Determination
by Tira
Summary: Well chapter 18 is up! ? Sorry for the delay. Ryou finds out about his yami's past while Joey and Seto have a moment. Curious?SetoXJoey pairing. R&R!
1. Awakening

"Seto." Joey looked at the prone body that lay on the white bed before him and shuddered. The brown haired boy was hooked up to all kinds of tubes, some small and thin, some thick and long. "Kaiba, you have to wake up, okay? For Mokuba."

Joey looked out into the lobby and took in the sad sight of Mokuba sobbing into Yugi's arms while Téa amd Tristan tried to comfort both of the boys.

"I know that we have never really seen eye-to-eye Kaiba but..." the soft sound of Mokuba's sobs reached Joey's keen ears. "Hear that Kaiba? That's Mokuba crying for you. He...loves you, ya know? You're his big strong brother."

Joey sighed and looked up at the plain white, boring ceiling. "I guess I'm....eh....sorry...for ya know, provoking you and stuff and getting into fights with you..." the blonde shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't really good at this kind of thing. "But a lot of the fights you started too, so don't even try to pin them all on me....don't even try."

Joey stared hard at the prone Kaiba, as if willing him to open his eyes. "But wake up anyway, okay? I can't stand how sad Mokuba is....or the heartbreaking look that Téa gave me when we came in here. Despite her harsh words to you Kaiba, she really cares. Tristan is worried too, but you'd never know by looking at his face. He's good at hiding his emotions, but not good enough for me to still be able to read them. He is really worried about you Kaiba. Though more for Mokuba's sake then yours, I think. And Yugi....he's probably more worried then all of us except for Mokuba. He cares too Kaiba, more then you'll probably ever know. It was so hard for him to let you go up on that castle, but it was not his way to blast you....He's that kind of guy, ya know?"

Joey slumped down into the chair and rubbed his tired eyes. It was almost one o'clock in the morning. "After all you've been through Kaiba, you are going to let a little car take you down? After dueling Pegasus, after having your soul stolen, after being stuck in a virtual reality game...you are going to let something as normal as a car get you? C'mon Kaiba, I'd think you'd wait until you could make your Duel Monsters real or something....and get smoked by your dragon....a Blue-Eyes maybe?"

He sighed and stretched out the back of his neck and then began to rub it. "If not for me, or Tristan, ot Téa or Yugi or even Mokuba...do it for your dueling deck. Do it for the heart of the cards. I know you believe in it now Kaiba, so there is no denying it. So if not for your little brother, do it for the game. You are the former Champion in the world, still number two. There is probably not one duelist in Domino or even Japan that could take you out...except maybe Yugi. So if not for people....for the cards. Come back Kaiba."

Joey leaned foward, his head on his hands, blonde hair spilling all about his face. He couldn't believe he'd let Yugi talk him into doing this...He'd tried everything that he could think of! He'd tried by putting Mokuba in the picture, he'd tried by saying he was sorry! He'd tried putting everyone else into the picture, he'd even tried goading Kaiba, and then, flattering him slightly....

Maybe it was all just hocus-pocus. Maybe people couldn't hear you when they were in coma...maybe he was just talking to air...Mokuba's sobs touched Joey's ears, followed by sobs that could only be Yugi's....

"See Kaiba?" Joey murmured listleslsy. "Yugi's crying for you now..."

Eons seemed to pass in Joey's frusterated, scared mind....but maybe it was really only seconds and maybe it was hours. Joey clenched his eyes tightly shut.

Suddenly a shudder ran through his young body. A presence that opposited his in so many ways, seemed to shove against his. In the lobby a young boy's deep blue eyes lept open and grew wide.

"Seto!" 

Joey stood quickly and stared at the bed's occupant as he blearily blinked his two azure eyes open and looked around. 

Seto opened his eyes. He felt as if he were coming from a deep long sleep, but he still felt tired. Who was that....someone was standing in front of him. Seto blinked again and the lanky figure of Joey Wheeler clicked into place. 

"Wheeler...?" The older boy blinked again...he had heard a voice while he was sleeping...one urging him to wake up...had it been..."Joey?"

"Seeto!" Mokuba flung himself at his older brother in the bed and hugged him tightly. Joey stood back, still staring as Yugi, Tristan and Téa crowded into the room as well. 

Joey stared at Kaiba incredulously. Could he really have just called Kaiba back? Could Kaiba have really been able to hear him...and he woke up? Had he really done it? Had he really...?

Over Mokuba's shoulder, Seto's eyes met Joey's and the older boy mouthed one word. Joey just nodded numbly.

Thanks.


	2. Contemplation

Thanks to my reveiwers!!

Tenshi bakeru- Joey can be smart!!! Sometimes...

SamusKaiba;BountyHunter- Read on and enjoy!

"No Docter. I am leaving. Now."

The docter held his clip board in front of him as if it might shield him from any blow that the teenager in front of him might inflict. "B-but Mr. Kaiba sir...you haven't fully recovered yet. You- you ne-need to stay at least two more days." The teenage boy had been lucky to get off with no broken bones and just a few sore ribs and a really bad headache. The car had just glancedEven if he wasn't fully healed, Seto Kaiba was still a menacing figure to deal with.

Mokuba giggled behind his small hand. The docter really had no idea what he was up against. There was no way that his big brother was staying even a few more hours...he recognized the determined look in his brother's eye.

Finally the docter sighed. "Fine, sir." He handed Seto a paper. "This is your release form. You need to fill it out."

Seto grunted and snatched the paper from the man's out stretched hand. His vision was kind of blurry, but he could just make out the words on the page. His hand felt shaky but he managed to steady it under the scrutinizing eyes of the docter. 

Soon the forms were filled out and the reluctant docter was forced to let the Seto leave. Mokuba walked close beside his older brother and had latched onto his hand, looking as if he was never going to let go again. 

The second that the two brothers had exited the hospital, Seto stretched and tilted his head back, letting the warm rays of the sun brush gently against his skin and shine brightly in his eyes.

He had never been so happy to be alive. Not even when he had taken control of Kaiba Corp. Not even when he'd found Mokuba after Yugi's battle with Pegasus. Whether anyone had really known it or not, he had been teetering on the brink of death. He had almost considered letting go...almost considered running away from the pain...from the pain of life and what it brought. But something had stopped him. A voice...a voice that spoke the truth and that convinced him that the world needed him...or that someone did at least. And who had that voice been, but Joey Wheeler.

Seto sighed.

Of all of the people....

***

"C'mon Joey! Play your card."

The blonde boy jerked out of his revarie to see Yugi's smiling face. Oh yeah...Duel Monsters...

"Uh....okay." He stared at the cards in his hand, not really looking at them. "I play the Flamed Swordsman in Attack Mode."

Truth be told, Joey really wasn't paying attention to the duel and couldn't even remember what Yugi had played last turn. Joey's thoughts had been elsewhere. He had been thinking about....Kaiba. Kaiba, of all o fthe people to pop into his head. 

Two nights ago...thats's how long it had been since Kaiba had awoken from his coma. And still Joey couldn't get the strange feeling out of his head that something, he didn't know what, but something had happened that night. 

Sure, for some reason he had almost cried for Kaiba...but that was more concern for Mokuba's sake. He had been scared for Mokuba...right. And then right before Kaiba had woken up...there had been that...that feeling that had passed through him. It was like a shudder of anticipation, but not a bad one. It had felt so strange....almost....maybe...nice? No. Never.

Joey shook his head to clear it. 

"Joey, Joey....have you forgotton what I have on the field?" Yugi sighed. "Dark Magician attack! Dark Magic attack!"

The brown-eyed-boy placed his favorite card in his graveyard and looked back at his own hand.

And then Kaiba had done something that had really amazed Joey. He had said 'thank-you'. Of all the things to say...of all the people to say it...

"Joey?"

The boy blinked blearily at his best friend and lay his cards down on the table. "I'm gonna...go for a walk," he said distracidly.

"Joey?" Yugi asked again.

"Don't worry man, I'll be back in a bout a half of an hour." He sttod and walked past a confused looking Yugi to get his jacket. "See ya Yugi."

He walked out into the warm night, pulling his thin jacket around his thin frame.

/Yami?/ Yugi thought. /Do you know what's wrong with him?/

//No young one....I do not.../

***

"Big brother!" Seto turned to see Mokuba hurling himself down the hallway. "Big brother, can I please go to the movies with Kari and Domin?"

Seto nodded absently. "Sure. What movie and when?"

"The Two Towers in twently minutes."

"Okay," Seto nodded. "Get Hoshi to give you a ride alright?"

"Thanks Seto!"

The older boy watched, a small smile playing on his lips as he watched his younger brother race down the hallway to find their driver, Hoshi.

Then he shook his head and sighed. He couldn't believe that he had come so close to dying...to miss out on future moments like this...Seto shook his head to try and clear it of the muddled thoughts racing around in it. But they kept coming back...

Joey had been there when he had woken up. Joey Wheeler. The one that he called a dog and humiliated. But as he had woken up he had felt the boy's presence. 

Seto shook his head. No it had to be all in his head.

/That's what you said about the heart of the cards./ Seto's conscious whispered. /But you believe in that now. Why not believe that you felt Joey's presence. Why not accept the fact that you welcomed his presence. Maybe even....hoped for it?/

No...Lies....

Seto shook his head again, this time more violently to clear it. He sighed and looked out the window. It looked like it might rain....

A walk. A nice long walk through the park. That's what he need. He was just a little stir-crazy...right.

A/N: End Chapter 2. So what did you think? Any suggestions? Comments? Random reveiws? Leave them here!


	3. Meeting

His feet crunched the leaves gently making a soft rythmic sound as he walked. He lifted his face up towards the sky and pulled his jacket tighter around him. It was getting a little colder....or maybe it was just his imagination.

A shiver raced up and down his spine as an odd feeling eveloped Joey. It was a feeling that something was missing...something important. He had this....this pit of sorts centered on his stomache. And he probably hadn't doe a very good job at hiding it either.

It was like something was eating his soul....Something that he should see, but couldn't. He felt like a blind person who had something important right in front of him....but he couldn't see it.

And whenever he thought of Kaiba....laying in his bed....so limply....so dead like....the pit in his stomache deepened. 

Joey shook his head. Kaiba? No way. He could not be worried for Kaiba....could he? No of course not....

Sighing, the blonde boy collapsed on the nearest park bench and leaned his head back closing his chocolate brown eyes and sighing. He felt suddenly at peace, as if something good was about to happen....

Soon the Heavens opened and the soft pitter-patter of rain could be heard. The rain dropped onto the boy, rapidly now, soon soaking him.

And still he lay, unmoving.

***

The tall boy moved almost gracefully through the trees and down the park path. He'd always thought that the park had been beautiful.....he and Mokuba had had so much fun here before....not thta anyone else knew about it.

Seto almost smiled as a drop of rain touched his cheek. Rain....he remembered playing in the rain when he was little, just him and Mokuba. They would run around the hard in the rain and fall on each other laughing and then they'd just lay there, slone and let the rain fall on them. Loving the way it smelled and the way it tasted....

A voice suddenly reached the boy's ears and he automatically straightened his back and wiped away the smile that had been growing on his face. The voice was humming an unfamiliar song while the voice itself was familiar.

Carefully Seto stepped around the corner to see who the person was. A soaking wet boy sprawled across a park bench was the sight that met his eyes. The former Champion of the World took an involuntary step back.

Joey Wheeler!

The person who had been haunting his thoughts for days, the one person tha he really wanted to unconsciuosly get away from. And here....here he was laying in the rain humming. Something, he, Seto Kaiba had done so many years ago....

Suddenly the tune stopped and Joey cracked an eye open to see his arch enemy standing in front of him. "Oh Kaiba. It's you." He didn't sound vengeful, scared or even surprised.

Inside the blonde boy was creeped out. One minute he had been humming Serenity's favorite song and the next, a wave of familiarity had washed opene and he had opened his eyes to find Seto Kaiba standing in front of him. And yet....a feeling of peacefulness and calmness kept him from making any snide remarks.

Something kept Seto from saying anything as well. "Hello." No witty comment came to mind so he closed his mouth. Quickly.

Joey chuckled. He closed his eyes again and let his mind wander....the way Kaiba had reacted when Mokuba had lept into his arms at Duelist Kingdom...."Ya know Kaiba, you're not as cold hearted as you think you are."

Kaiba just stared. "What?"

"I've seen the way that you look at Mokuba. It's the same way that I look at my sister and the way that Tristan looks at Téa. You love him."

The famous CEO opened his mouth, closed it and then opened it again. "Of course. He's my little brother."

Joey opened his eyes and gazed up at Seto. "Then that means that there is a human being underneath it all. Just the opposite of what you seem to want the world to believe."

Seto gave the younger boy a strange look before flicking brown hair from his eyes. Where was Joey getting this?

Frankly, the blonde was thinking the exact same thing. Where was he getting this stuff? And why was he saying it? This was Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. The very same who humiliated Joey over and over in front of his friends. This was the boy that he hated....and yet right now...he didn't.

Joey raised his eyes and met Kaiba's. Seto stared coldly back. Something flickered in a pair of chocolate brown eyes. Suddenly the blonde boy lept up and looked around nervously.

"Um....um..." Joey's eyes darted around desperately as Kaiba looked on, confused by the sudden change. "I-I got to go because-" Why was he explaining himself to Kaiba?

Seto stared at the boy's back as he hurried quickly away. Confusion clouded his mind. He felt as if he had missed something when he had been watching Joey's eyes. Something that had looked an aweful lot like-

***

No. Way. No way! It couldn't be. It just couldn't.

Joey collapsed, still soaking wet into the ratty couch just inside the door of his apartment.

He refused to believe it. It just wasn't possible.

He placed his wet hands over his eyes and lay back.

For a moment, a single moment when he had gazed up into Kaiba's sapphire eyes he had seen him in a different way. He had seen him as a...a handsome older boy. Someone who just needed....

No. He'd promised himself that after Mai he would never do it again. He would never fall in love.

Yet that is just what he had done. Fallen in love.

And with Seto Kaiba....of all people....

Author's Note: Once again sorry for taking so long. It's been a long couple of weeks....

Artists, if you feel like drawing and are good could you please email me? There's a picture I've been dying to see drawn but I have no drawing talent what so ever. My email address is [childofthestars11@yahoo.com][1].

Also does anyone know how the Priest Seto of Ancient Egypt died?

   [1]: mailto:childofthestars11@yahoo.com



	4. The Day After

School. Ugh....

Joey let out an inhumane moan and rolled out of bed. He landed with a soft thump on the floor and rolled over again to face his alarm clock. Instantly his eyes grew as wide as saucers. 

7:32?????

School started in ten minutes!

***

"Mokuba!" Seto called down the hall. It's time to get up. He got a shock when the small black haired boy bounded from his room, fully dressed and a grin plastered on his face. 

"Already up!" He hugged his big brother and bounded off towards the kitchen.

Seto blinked slowly and followed, wondering where his brother got all of his energy in the morning. He stepped into the kitchen and staggered suddenly. It felt as if he had been struck across the head with a blunt object. His vision was blurry for a moment and then the world seemed to piece itself back together. He forced himself to step foward.

"Seto?" Mokuba asked from the table where he had been watching his brother. "Are you alright?"

Seto swallowed and nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry Mokuba...it was nothing..."

***

"Where is it?" Joey swore loudly and lept across the room, arms throwing things off of the floor, desperately looking for it. "Where could it possibly be?" he cried.

Finally he found it, a few crumpled sheets of paper sitting on the floor. Cheering, the blonde snatched up his homework and hurried from his room (while trying to pull his socks and shoes on at the same time.)

Snatching up his backpack, Joey ran flat out to his front door, pulled it open and slammed it quickly behind him. 

About four and a half seconds later he came running back in, race bright red, pulled a pair of blue pants off of the couch and quickly pulled them on.

***

Seto's limo pulled up to the Domino High School a few minutes before the late bell. Apparently while Seto had been in the park last night, his brother had had a sugar high and had began to feel the effects of it a few moments after he'd woken up and bounded down the hall.

The older Kaiba sighed as he watched his brother walk sluggishly across the street to the Domino Middle School and then turned and began to walk quickly towards his school.

He hurried through the hallways as they began to empty into their classrooms. Finally he was alone in the hallway, walking quickly. Seto sighed and-

WHAM!

Two bodies flew apart and landed on the floor with a thump. A boy with blonde hair staggered to his feet and looked over to see who he'd run over. Seto was just getting up, and rubbing his head. Their books and binders had been spread across the hallway.

"Oh..." Joey said. "Kaiba." In a flash he began to hurry around the hallway and pick up the binders and books, alternately throwing one in Seto's general direction and leaving one in his arms. 

Seto scratched the back of his head and watched as the boy hurried around and caught each book that came flying in his direction.

Quickly Joey stood before Kaiba in a respectful manner. He looked, Seto noted with vague amusement, as if he had been hit by a tornado on the way to school. His jacket was only on one arm and his shirt was not buttoned correctly at all. His pants hung lopsided and Seto suspected that his shoes were on the wrong feet. His hair stuck up in every possible direction. 

Before Kaiba could make a remark, Joey bowed quickly and ran off down the hall towards his first class. "Sorry Kaiba!" he called over his shoulder. 

A vague mist of amusement swept quickly over Kaiba's features. Well that was an interesting way to start the day.

***

"Get out your homework please!" Mr. Monha called as Joey slid into his seat in front of Tristan, a second after the bell rang.

"Talk about cutting it short," is brown haired friend murmured from behind. 

"Shut-up," Joey hissed, desperately looking for his Algebra homework. He searched through the papers that had fallen out of his binder after he and Kaiba had collided.

Kaiba....

A neatly folded piece of paper glared up at him. That couldn't be his....it was neat looking and...

The blonde haired boy opened it. It was something someone had written...but it wasn't him...not his handwriting...too neat.. and in....Latin?

Joey bit his lip and stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket as Mr. Monha walked by. Joey thrust a piec of paper which he desperately hoped was his homework and pushed the sheaf of papers back into his binder.

That...whatever it was, it had to be Kaiba's. He was the only one that Joey knew of who was taking Latin and...well, he had just practically mowed him over not five minutes ago. His stuff must have gotton mixed up with Joey's....

Joey stuck his hand in his pocket and touched the piece of paper. 

I wonder what it says....

***

The world began to spin as he stared up at the chalk board. The writing on it was swirling together and mixing into one big blur. Discreetly Kaiba placed a hand on his head.

He was burning up...

But Seto's pride got in his way and he refused to ask to go to the Nurse's Office...refused to do anything but stare at the chalkboard and pretend to write the notes down.

After a moment Seto slid his thin hand that was shaking slightly into his jacket pocket. He refused to acknowledge the fact that his hand was shaking without his control and searched his pocket for the piece of paper.

It wasn't there!

//"Sorry Kaiba!"// The voice rang in his head. Joey! What if he picked it up? What then?

Slowly he began to calm down. Of course, Joey couldn't read Latin and that is what he had written it in...good...it was safe....for now...

The pounding in his head grew worse. It felt like it had this morning....only....worse....

Grimacing Seto held his head in his hand and closed his eyes trying deperately to keep the pain away. A jackhammer was hammering at his brain....an axe embedded in the side of his skull....someone hitting him with a bat....

"Mr. Kaiba?" Ms. Hiro asked. "The answer?" Seto didn't answer. At this point he couldn't even really hear that well...the pain.... "Mr. Kaiba?" the young teacher asked again realizing that there might be something wrong.

"Uh..." unsteadily, Seto stood, swaying. In front of him Téa glanced back and realized how pale he looked. His eyes were unfocused and he was swaying slightly. 

"Kaiba?" she whispered. On the other side of her, Tristan stood quickly and caught Kaiba as he fell. Slowly he lowered the older boy to the ground as Ms. Hiro hurried foward. Tristan placed his hand on Seto's neck, taking his pulse. His eyes grew wide. 

"Quick Téa! Call an ambulance! His pulse is low and his breathing shallow." Téa stared at him for a moment but shot off like a deer as Tristan glared at her. 

She ran down the hall at full tilt, her mind fixed on the pale face of Kaiba.

***

The high screaming sound of an ambulance reached Joey's ears and pulled him out of his revarie. He had been staring at the Kaiba's paper while standing by the water fountain.

He watched as two men wearing uniforms hurried down the hallway towards the Biology classes. Joey stared after them in a kind of dazed state. He was even more dazed when they cam back out with a very familiar looking boy in the stretcher between them. Joey stared, his mind blank from the shock. A piece of paper with a story in Latin lay forgotton in his pocket. 

The face reappeared in the boy's mind again....and again....

"Kaiba...."

A/N: So? Opinions? Please reveiw. I'll give you a cookie!


	5. Hospital

::gives Cyana a cookie::: Enjoy! And thanks for the reveiw! Thank you everyone for the reveiws!

Joey blinked once. Then again. The slamming of the doors and high scream of the ambulance pulled him from his shocked state. He dropped the pen that was in his hand and began to run flat out for the door. 

"Joey!" a voice cried. Strong hands gripped him by the shoulders and a voice spoke in his ear. "Joey, stop."

The blonde boy spun to find Tristan's brown eyes studying him. "B-but Kaiba!" Joey cried, eyes wide open. "What the hell happened to Kaiba?" 

Tristan studied his friend carefully. The only other time he had seen his friend this worked up was the night before Serenity's operation...Joey was....scared? But for Kaiba?

"He collapsed in class," Tristan said slowly. Joey was still staring over Tristan's shoulder in the direction that Kaiba had been rushed away. He was still weakly trying to get past Tristan....to get to the door...

Suddenly Téa appeared behind him. She was startled to see the tears in her friend's eyes. Startled to see that he was so close to breaking down...over Kaiba? She knew what had to be done. 

"Tristan," she ordered. "Get the motorcycle."

As the brown haired boy ran to obey, she encircled her arms around her taller friend. She didn't know what was eating him so much about Kaiba but she could still help. "Don't worry Joey, everything will be fine."

Those words seemed to trigger something inside of him and three tears fell from his eyes and dripped gently down his cheeks. "But what if it's not?" he whispered. "What if he dies?"

It was in that exact moment that Téa understood. Understood exactly what her blonde friend was feeling. She had felt the exact same way, asked herself the exact same question when Yugi had been in the hospital. /What if he doesn't get better...what if he never does?/

"Oh Joey," she whispered. But she couldn't say anymore because the sound of a horn broke through their thoughts and Tristan's voice floated through the air.

It was time to leave.

***

"Where am I?" he asked outloud. All around him were swirling colors and flashes of bright light. But there were also patches of darkness...patches of a deep darkness like he had never seen before....

"That depends..." a voice said. It boomed all around him and echoed in his mind. It sounded so very familiar...."Where do you want to be?"

He spun around in circles desperately trying to find the source of that oh-so familiar voice. "Who are you?"

"What a complicated answer."

"Answer me!"

"No."

He swallowed. "Alright then...what do you want?"

The voice laughed. He knew that laugh.... "That Seto Kaiba, I can tell you."

***

He had grown since they had last seen him a couple years ago. He was growing taller, leaner, like his brother. His bright blue eyes were wide and unbelieving and his mouth hung slightly ajar. His baggy clothes hung loosely on his body. He stared straigh ahead.

As soon as he entered the room, Tristan and Téa rose to greet him. The gril kneeled down in front of him and stared into his eyes. "Mokuba?" she whispered. "Are you going to be okay?"

"My brother," the thirteen year old boy whispered. "Where is Seto? What they said....it can't be true...."

"I'm sorry Mokuba..." Tristan whispered. "But the nurses won't let anyone in. He's in the ICU....the Intensive Care Unit..."

The younger boy stared up at Tristan with huge pleading eyes. "But he'll be alright won't he? Seto will be fine right? I mean he has to get better....for his company, for Duel Monsters..."

Closer to the room, Joey flinched and clutched his fists tightly in his lap. He knew what Mokuba's next words were going to be...in his mind he whispered them along with the young boy.

"...For me."

Téa bit her lip and hugged the boy tightly. "Don't worry, Mokuba, he'll get better." She looked up at Tristan. "You guys should go down for a drink. We'll stay. And then we'll switch off okay?"

Forcibly Mokuba was dragged down the hall to the cafeteria. Slowly Téa made her way over to Joey and sat down beside him. She began to rub his back soothingly. 

"Don't worry Joey," she whispered.

"But what if he dies?" the blonde whispered. "What if he doesn't get better? I don't care if when he comes out he doesn't remember anyone, or he absolutely hates me, but what if he he doesn't come back at all? I....I don't think that I could stand it..."

"You really love him don't you?" Téa whispered. She was kind of surprised, he had always said how much he had hated Seto Kaiba, and now this....but she supported him. She was behind him all the way.

"Love is a strong word Téa," he whispered and then paused and nodded. "I do and what kills me so much is....I don't know why!" He shook his blonde head. "He hates me Téa I just know he does and yet....still I can't help but...."

"Joey." Téa stood and tugged on her friend's arm for him to stand to. "Joey it's time for you to go in. Talk to him like you once did. You brought him back that day...and you know it."

"I know...but what-what if I can't bring him back again?"

"Go Joey," she whispered and for a moment she reminded him exactly of Serenity. 

He nodded, took a deep breath and slipped down the hall towards room 671.

***

"So?" Seto crossed his arms and looked towards where the voice was coming from. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

A figure stepped from the shadows and grinned. Seto nodded as if had been expecting a mirror image of himself come forth from the darkness. The other Kaiba grinned again.

"I'm here to grant the wish, Seto of whether or not you want to live or not."

Seto snorted. "I could make that decision by myself," he scoffed. He thought of his life. An utter failure of a life. He didn't deserve to live. He didn't deserve anything that he did have....not one bit.

"So Seto Makital," the spirit said naming him by the name that he had before he wa sadopted by Gozaburo Kaiba. "What is you decision."

Utter conviction and finality rang in Seto's voice. And the spirit nodded as if he had been expecting it too.

"Death."


	6. Decisions

rhio-okigrl47- erp! Okay Here it is!!

Something tugged at Joey's heart. The feeling made him walk quicker. Made him run so fast down the hall that he almost ran right past Seto's room. Slowly he came to a stop turned and snuck into the room.

He looked much like he did when Joey had last seen him in the hospital. He hated seeing the boy hooked up to so many different tubes. He hated that Seto was here when he should be in the park with Mokuba or working on some new technology.

Slowly Joey sat down beside Seto's bed and looked at the pale boy. He took a deep breath and swallowed solidly. He directed his chocolate brown eyes down to the famous CEO's hand. He so badly wanted to hold it...but-

"Well Kaiba," Joey began. "Here I am again."

***

The other Kaiba nodded again. "I knew you'd say that. But...."

Seto sighed impatiently and was about so say something but froze as a voice rang through his mind. But it was not the memory of words....but something being said right at that instant....

"....I hate seeing you all in tubes and such...it kinda scares me ya know?"

"Joey?" Seto whispered.

"-are you sure?" the darker Kaiba finished.

***

"Because you are such a strong guy Kaiba. You have a will to live. A will to defeat and to be the best. And it scares me that....that if you could look like this I could be worse. I am not a strong as you. Secretly I wish I was."

Joey sighed and put his head in his hands. "Come back Kaiba. Once again here I am begging you to come back and this time, again for all of the same reasons. Mokuba loves you so much Kaiba. I don't know if he could live without you. Just like you couldn't live without him...."

"Come back Kaiba. Please come back."

***

Seto stared at the darkness around him. "He's....trying to get me to come back....again? Why? I've done nothing but ground him into the floor ever since I've known him...why?"

"He seems to be doing it for your brother, not himself," the other Kaiba said.

"Yeah....but what I've done to him deserves hate....but still...he fights for be no matter on who it's for. Why?"

***

"Téa Gardener?" A nurse appeared from the hall way and looked around the small waiting room. Téa was sitting with Yugi who had just showed up moments ago. The brown haired girl stood quickly and walked across the room to the nurse. She had signed to be the first informed if something was wrong with Kaiba and Mokuba wasn't around.

"Is something wrong?" she asked quietly. 

The nurse nodded slowly. "Mr. Kaiba's taking a turn for the worse. I want you to keep it from Mokuba though, alright? Because he could be fine in the morning...I just don't want to see the poor boy all worked up alright?"

Téa nodded slowly then looked up at the blonde nurse. "What is your personal opinion?" she asked softly, dreading the answer.

The nurse looked directly into Téa's eyes. "I don't think that he'll last the night."

***

"Last time the only reason I thought you should have come backs was for Mokuba and for Kaiba Corp. But things are changing Kaiba....I....if you come back again....I'm going to hope that it was because of me. That it wasn't just luck that you came back last time that I was in the room."

Joey sighed and looked down at the limp boy. "Please Kaiba....I know you hate me but....maybe...just maybe I don't hate you anymore. Maybe I'm starting to see what Mokuba sees in you. A cold man with a kind interior. Kaiba..." Joey stared down at the CEO's limp hand and then slowly slid his hand into it. "Come back Kaiba....it sounds so selfish...but come back to me Kaiba."

***

"He-he....!" Seto turned to the dark Kaiba. "You knew." It was not a question, but a statement. "Who are you?"

The darker Kaiba nodded. "I am you other half, you're sub-consciousness. And you are correst. I did know that Joey fell in love with you, but because I am your sub-counsciousess I could not tell you. So you found out for yourself."

But..." Seto stared around him. "What do I do?"

The darkness nodded. "You could start by returning to your body."

"But life is so bleak....its so..."

"What about Mokuba? What about Joey?"

Seto opened his mouth then closed it and then opened it again. He turned and nodded at the darkness. "Take me back."

***

Slowly Joey let Kaiba's hand fall back to the bed and he closed his eyes almost painfully. So it had just been a coincidence. Kaiba hadn't come back because Joey had asked him too....it was all just....

The blonde boy stood and began to walk towards the door. A strange lonely feeling wrapped itself around Joey's heart. A deep darkness...his deep hope that Kaiba had come back for him was destroyed. A single, solitary tear worked itself down Joey's cheek as he closed his eyes.

A sudden figure appeared before his closed eyes, tall and slim with a smirk on his face. He smiled and lifted a hand. Light shone brightly from it banishing all of Joey's dark thoughts. 

Quickly and with a gasp a pair of chocolate brown eyes flew open to stare into a pair of sapphire eyes that were blinking open. 

"Joey?" Seto whispered.


	7. Disaster

"So he's in love....." Yugi said in wonder thinking of his best friend. "And of all the people...."

"Yeah...." Téa nodded.

/That wopuld explain why he was acting so strange at the Game Shop!/ Yugi cried after he'd told the spirit of the Puzzle the news.

Yami nodded. //Yes...it would...//

***

"K-Kaiba...." A million thoughts raced through Joey's mind as he stared into those beautiful sapphire eyes. "I-uh-you-"

"Joey..." Kaiba's deep voice made Joey stop sputtering. Made him listen to the words that he so longed to hear. "I heard you. I heard you telling me why I had to come back and I don't understand. Why? After all I have put you through..." he gazed up at Joey in a questioning way that the blonde had never seen before.

"Because Kaiba...that's what you do. Even if they don't like you but you...you see something in them, you try to get them back. It's...." Joey smiled gently. "It's just what you do."

"Joey...." Seto whispered. "You said to come back....for you..."

"Kaiba?" the blonde laughed nervously. "Just how drugged up are you?"

"Joe-"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

An ear splitting tone sliced through him like a knife on butter. Seto's eyes rolled back in his head and his mouth hung slightly ajar. 

"No!" Joey screamed. He'd had him...and now- "No!" He lept forward and clutched his former rival's hand tightly. "Kaiba, no! Nurse! Doctor! Téa! Someone please help!" He clutched the hand that he held so tightly in his own. Tears splashed down from his eyes and onto his and Kaiba's hand. "Seto..."

***

"Miss Gardener?" The brown haired nurse was reappeared amd quickly Téa and Yugi stood and walked towards her. Tristan looked up but did not move because Mokuba was curled up in his lap, asleep. 

"Yes?" Téa asked fearfully. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." The nurse smiled. "Mr. Kaiba just woke up a few minutes ago."

"Really?"

"Can we go see him?" Yugi asked.

The nurse nodded. "But only for a few minutes."

Téa and Yugi set off quickly and Tristan followed, picking up Mokuba and rousing the young boy. 

"Seto's awake," Tristan whispered to the black haired Kaiba.

"Really?" His blue eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. 

Yeah."

As Téa neared the room that Seto was in, she became very aware that something was wrong. Two doctors pushed by them and into Seto's room. And sitting, slumped back onto the wall was a certain blonde haired boy, tears streaming down his face. 

"Joey!" the brown haired girl cried. She knelt by her friend and lifted his chin up. "Joey what happened?"

"He just....suddenly he was just-his eyes rolled back...." he whispered. "He was there and then...suddenly he wasn't...."

The blue eyed girl wrapped her arms around the boy as Yugi came to stand beside them Mokuba broke free of Tristan's grip and stumbled to the ground crying loudly. 

"Big brother!" he screamed. "Seeetooo!"

***

(Brown eyes)

"What the hell happened?"

(Chocolate brown...)

"I was fine! What the hell happened?"

(Gazing up)

"You could not handle it, Seto Kaiba."

(at him, rain drippin from his blonde bangs.)

"What do you mean?"

(In his dreams)

"Your counsciousness and soul could not endure what you were about to hear."

(he always kissed those eyes,)

"Take me back!"

It's not that simple."

(that nose)

"What?"

"As with everything, Seto Kaiba there are consiquences."

(those lips....)

"I don't care! I must get back!"

(But those were)

"If you insist....good-bye Seto Kaiba..."

(just dreams.)

***

His sapphire eyes fluttered gently open. A doctor was standing over him. It was the doctor who had tried to stop Seto from leaving the first time. 

"This time, Mr. Kaiba, you are staying in bed."

"Mokuba..." the CEO coughed. "My little brother and Joey..." He had wanted to talk to Joey...hadn't he? But what for? Why? He had heard something and wanted to tell Joey about it....Why couldn't he remember? But...

"Big brother!" A small form lept onto the bed, despite the doctor's protests.

"Mokuba!" An uncharacteristical smile spread across Seto's face as he hugged his little brother tightly. 

Joey, Téa, Yugi and Tristan followed the small boy slowly and stood in the doorway. Tristan was smiling slightly, happy to see the small boy so happy. Yugi was smiling at the thought of more duels with Kaiba, no matter how tough they would be. Téa was smiling because she knew that Joey would be happy because he was back. But when she turned to her blonde friend he wasn't smiling.

Joey was frowning slightly. He could feel it. He could feel that Seto didn't remeber anything that they had just said. But it couldn't be...

"Hey Kaiba," he said slowly. "'For you...'"

The brown haired CEO gave the blonde and odd look. "What are you talking about Joey?"

Pain gripped Joey's heart and held it tightly in its fist. He didn't....it had to have something to do with when he fell unconscious again...brain damage?

Quickly the duelist turned and pushed his way to the door. "I-I have to go get some air...."

"Joey!" Téa cried but Yugi grabbed her arm and shook his head. Smiling he turned to Kaiba. 

"So...how do you feel?"


	8. Conversations

He moved down the hall as quickly as he could, eyes on the floor, not caring whether or not he ran into anything or anyone. For now...he needed to be alone....just for now....

Some how he found himself in the garden that was in the middle of the hospital. It was a place for the patients to move about freely and be back in nature. 

Slowly he made his way over to a bench and plopped down on it covering his face with is hands. How could this have happened? He had been so close...so close to telling Seto exactly what he wanted him to know but....now his dreams were shattered into a million pictures. It was as if a sledgehammer had been taken to a window....now everything was in shards. 

"Joey?" a familiar Australian accented voice asked.

He looked up, blinking tears from his eyes. "Bakura? What are you doing here?"

The white haired boy pointed across the garden to an elderly man puttering around and laughing. "That's my father. He has Alzheimer's Disease...."

"Oh...does he..."

Bakura shook his head. "He doesn't even remember my face. Sometimes he thinks that I am one of the nurses here. Once he thought I was here to give him a sponge bath..." Brown eyes shifted to the ground. "He doesn't even remember his own son's face."

"Bakura..." Joey whispered laying a hand on the Keeper of the Ring's shoulder. "I'm so sorry..."

"Eh..." the boy shrugged trying to seem indifferent. "No matter..." Before the blonde could say anything, he changed the subject. "So Joey what brings you to the hospital?"

Joey looked down at his toes. "A...a friend."

"It's not Serenity is it? I mean she is alright?" the white haired boy asked anxiously. He couldn't think of anyone else that would make Joey this sad. But...Yugi? Tristan? Téa maybe? No...he'd seen them this morning.

"Yeah..." Joey managed a thin smile. "My sis is just fine."

They sat in silence for a few moments, Bakura staring off at the elderly man who was now playing chess with another older man. Joey closed his eyes and imagined Seto...

"Joey," Bakura said breaking the silence. "I don't know who this 'friend' of yours is but it is fairly obvious that whatever is happening to him or her is bothering you too. And..." he looked at the ground and sighed.

The blonde looked up at his friend inquiringly.

"Once," Bakura began. "I had a sister. She was the best in the whole world. Kairi always got me treats when she went out and bought me the cloths I wanted and stuff like that. I think it was because my dad was never around and my mom died when I was little. Anyway she always felt responsable for me and always took care of me.

"Once while Dad was in Egypt we got in a really big fight over something that was no doubt really petty. I told her that I hated her and ran off. She...well I guess that she followed. The next thing that I remember was that I was crying in my tree fort and I heard sirens. Curiosity got the better of me and I followed the sirens." Bakura raised his eyes to the sky and sighed. Tears welled up in his eyes. "Kairi had been hit by a car when she was crossing the road to look for me. She was dead by the time I got there....and the worst part is that I never got to say that I was sorry..."

"Bakura..." Joey whispered.

"Then it was just me and my dad. About a week after he came back from Egypt and gave me the Ring---" he tapped the golden ring around his neck. "---Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's..."

"Bakura...Joey whispered. "I never knew..."

The white haired boy looked at Joey evenly. "No one does. You are the first person that I've told."

"Not even Yugi?"

"Not even Yugi."

Again they sat in silence, Joey rolling the new information around inside of his head and Bakura desperately holding back the tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks.

Finally Bakura spoke, quietly and evenly. "I guess....what I am trying to tell you is...I never got to apologize to my sister and now I wish sorely every day that I did." He turned his eyes up to Joey's. "Don't let the same thing happen to you Joey. Son't let whatever you need to say to this 'friend' of yours go unsaid. Don't make the same mistake that I did."

***

"Little brother..." Seto whispered hugging the young boy. Tristan, Yugi and Téa had left a few moments earlier but the older boy had forced the nurse to let Mokuba stay with him. "I missed you so much..."

"Me too Seto," Mokuba whispered. "I thought this time that you'd leave me."

"I'd never leave you Mokuba." /But you wanted to!/ his mind screamed.

The younger boy snuggled up against his brother's chest. "Everyone else was sad too."

"Huh?"

Mokuba nodded. "Téa and Yugi talked a lot and they were always sad looking. Tristan stayed with me and told me not to worry, but he was scared to. I could tell by the way that he said your name. And Joey..." the boy looked up at his brother with huge eyes. "Joey cried a lot."

"He did?" Seto asked. The feeling that he should know something that he could not remember washed over Seto again. And there at the mention of Joey. At the sound of his name....

He had been talking to Joey....he had been talking about...

With a sigh the older boy lay back. Mokuba snuggled next to his brother and when the nurse came in a few moments later, both refused to be seperated from the other.

Within an hour the young Kaiba was fast asleep, listening to the steadt heartbeat of his older brother.

***

He stood outside of the door. He stood totally still staring at the base of the door. Tears welled up in his chocolate brown eyes. 

Why? Why were his dreams always denied. When he was six he had asked his parents for a Matchbox car that he had seen in a window. He had wanted it so very badly. He got a kite. When he was eleven he had a huge crush on this girl in his English class. He had foolishly asked her to go to the movies with him. She had laughed...loudly and crueling before walking away. It had broken his heart. 

Every single time that he had gotton his hopes up for something or when he had begun to care for someone, they were ripped from is life. Serenity, his father, his mother.....Kaiba....

He raised his eyes to the doorknob and reached his hand out for it. The metal was cold beneath his hand. Tightening his hand around the metal, Joey took a deep breath and-

He began to shake.

He couldn't do it....he just could not face the disapointment that would occur if Kaiba said....if he said that he hated Joey. He just would not be able to bear that....

/I heard you. I heard you telling me why I had to come back and I don't understand. Why? After all I have put you through.../ Joey squeezed his eyes tightly shut. 

/Loser. You are a pathetic dog. You don't deserve to call yourself a duelist. Go crawling home you barking chihuahua./

"No...."

/Well Kaiba, here I am again.../

/Joey?/

His hand slipped from the door knob and he stood, chin slipping down. Tears sprang from his eyes and ran down his cheeks as he sobbed silently.


	9. Searching

Riiiiiiing!

"Ugh...."

Riiing! Riiiiing!

Slowly the small boy rolled out of bed and reached for the phone. His hand hit clothes, books and various writing utensils...but no phone.

"Where is it?" he grumbled, angry at the intrusion of his sleep.

//By your desk.// a sleepy voice said.

Riiiiiiing!

/Thanks Yami./

"Hello?" he asked blearily as he pulled the phone to him.

"Yugi? Get out of bed!" It was Tristan and he sounded very loud and very awake.

"Why? It's Saturday. I want to-"

"Yugi!" Tristan shouted into the phone. The smaller boy held the phone a few feet away from his ear. "Joey never went home last night!"

The Keeper of the Millenium Puzzle snapped the phone back to his ear quickly. "What?"

//Yugi? What is is?//

/Hold on./

"He's not here, he's not at Téa's, he's not at his house and by the sound of your voice, he's obviously not there!"

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know!" Tristan sighed frusterated. "But we have to find him."

"Right. I'll be over in a sec, okay?"

"No," Tristan began to pace, pressing the phone tightly to his ear. "Téa's going to check Mai's. I'm going to get in touch with Bakura. You go to the hospital alright? He might have visited Kaiba."

Yugi began to pull a pair of pants on. "Right. The hospital. I'll call you later." Quickly he hung up the phone and pulled a black shirt on.

//What's wrong?//

/Joey's missing!/

***

"Mai?" Téa pounded on the door loudly. Finally, after a few minutes, the door swung open to reveal a dishevled looking Mai. Her blonde hair was knotted and her bath robe was hanging off of one shoulder.

"Téa?" the girl groaned. "What are you doing here? What time is it? What day is it?"

"Mai," the brown haired girl said hurridly, "Did you see Joey yesterday?"

"Joey? No...why-"

But Téa was already racing down the stairs of the apartment building. "Thanks Mai! Everyone says 'hi'!"

Blinking slowly the blonde woman turned slowly and walked back into her apartment scratching the back of her head in confusion.

***

"Hey Ryou!" he called pounding on the door for the third time.

The door opened to reveal the timid Keeper of the Millenium Ring. He smiled though when he saw Tristan. "Hello," he said softly. "Sorry, I thought you were Marik. Would you like to come in?"

The brown haired boy peered in to see Bakura laying passed out on the couch, a can of beer laying spilled on the table. Another body was passed out on the floor, one that Tristan didn't recognize. 

"Oh," Ryou blushed. "Bakura and Rashid had a party last night. They didn't come out on the better end of it, so to speak." Ryou chuckled softly.

"I'll stay out here," he replied as Bakura groaned and rolled over. "But I was wondering if you had seen Joey lately."

"Well, yes," the soft spoken boy murmured. "Last night, at the hosptal. He seemed really upset by something. He wouldn't say what though....why?"

"He's missing," Tristan said. 

"Oh no..." Ryou's brown eyes turned troubled. "Well...I'll come help in about an hour, alright? I need to get Rashid off of my rug and out of my door, but I'll meet you at the hospital as soon as I can, alright?"

Tristan nodded. "Thank, Ryou. I'll see you in an hour."

Ryou sighed and closed the door. Bakura cracked and eye open as his hikari walked by. "What did the dork want?" he asked using his nickname for Tristan. Téa was 'the fiend', Joey was 'the punk', Yugi was 'the Pharoh's pet' and Yami was 'the bakayaro'.

Ryou turned and studied his darker half for a moment. He was sprawled across the couch, his skinny legs propped up on the arm of the couch. His dark brown eyes were staring up at Ryou. The Yami shifted uncomfortablely under his hikari's scrutinizing gaze causing a bit of his stomach to show. The lighter boy shivered slightly.

"Nothing..." he whispered. "Nothing at all..."

***

"Kaiba?" Yugi poked his head quietly in the door to see the older duelist curled up with his little brother. As soon as the door opened though, Kaiba's eyes were open and on the smaller boy.

"Hello Yugi," Kaiba said.

"Kaiba," Yugi replied urgently. "Have you seen Joey today?"

Confusion washed over the Champion's face. "No. No not since last night." /I think..../ "Why?"

"Well..." Yugi looked down at the floor. "We can't find him."

"Can't find him?"

"He's gone."

Kaiba looked down at his sheets. "Yugi?" he asked softly. "Before...when Joey said 'for you'...what did he mean? Why did he say that?"

"You really don't remember?" Yugi asked. "Well...I'm sorry Kaiba but that is for Joey to tell you. It's not my place." He turned and began to walk away, trying to think of where else Joey could possibly be. He was stopped, although by Kaiba's deep voice, speaking softly as to not wake his brother.

"Yugi...find him."

***

"Tristan!"

"Hey Ryou!"

"Any luck?"

"No...none at all..."

The two boys sat down on a bench and waited for Yuig and Téa to show up. Tristan counted the ceiling tiles while Ryou stared at the ground desperately wanting to be anywhere but there.

"Hey Ryou! Tristan!" The two turned and stood to see Yugi and Téa running towards them. "Did you find anything?"

"He's not at the club," Ryou said. 

"Kaiba hasn't seen him," Yugi supplied.

"He's not at Mai's," Téa offered.

"And he's not anywhere in this hospital," Tristan granted.

"And..." Téa paused. "Serenity hasn't heard from him."

"What does that leave us with?"

Tristan sat down on the bench and pushed his face into his hands in order to hide his teary eyes from the others. "Nothing. That leaves us absolutely nothing..."

"We have to keep looking!" Téa cried desperately. 

"It's hopeless.." Tristan muttered glancing at the clock. It was about 7:20 am and he was tired. "There's no where else..."

"Wait!" Yugi's eyes lit up with excitement. "Maybe there is!"

***

A/N: Hey you guys, hope you are enjoying this so far. Again I send out the plea for knowledge: Does anyone know how the High Priest Seto of Egypt died?


	10. The Fisherman

/The night before...\

He glanced out the window just as the Heavens let loose an army of raindrops upon the Earth. He flicked black hair from his eyes and sighed, his father's snoring disrupting his thoughts.

It had only been a few months since he had moved to Domino and found his father. Both were working in the harbor as fishermen. It wasn't the best way to live your life, but both loved it so---

He was suddenly jerked from his thoughts as a hand slammed itself against his apartment door. Confusion written all over his dark skinned features, he stood and moved quickly to the door and opened it.

A cold and wet blonde stood shivering at his doorway. He turned his chocolate brown eyes up to the blue-eyed boy and stared seriously into his eyes. "Mako...I need a favor..."

"Joey!" the fisherman cried. "Come in! Come in!" Quickly Mako pulled his old friend through the doorway and into their small but nice apartment. "What do you need?"

"I--I just n--need a place to stay tonight..." Joey whispered shivering. "I can't go h--ome and I c--an't face my fr--iends right now...please...."

Mako smiled and laughed. "Of course! You can have the couch!"

"Oh n--o...I'll just take a place on the floor..."

The dark haired fisherman shook his head. "I'll not take no for an answer my friend. We have two beds and a very comfortable couch."

"T--wo?" Joey shook his head. "I'm sorry Mako, I didn't realize that you had a roomate. I--"

"Nonesense!" Mako cried. "It's just my father!"

The blonde swallowed hard. "Your father?" he whispered. "You found him?"

The black haired duelist grinned. "Actually he found me only a few weeks ago. I'm sorry I had not told you. I forgot!"

"That's okay..." Joey murmured. He let himself fall onto the couch that Mako indicated towards and closed his eyes. The sea-duelist threw a blanket over the cold boy.

"Good night Joey," he said softly. 

"G'night fish-boy...."

Slowly his chocolate brown eyes dropped closed and he fell into a deep sleep where bright sapphire eyes haunted him, but this time not because he had lost a duel.

***

/Pharoh!/

Yami turned quickly in his soul room. He diverted his attention from the four searchers in the hospital to the all too familiar voice. //Tomb Robber?//

/Yes. I have....a question./

The ancient Pharoh crossed his arms susoiciously and allowed Bakura to hear his caution through the link. //I'm listening.//

/What's going on?/

//What?//

/Why did Ryou leave so suddenly? What is he doing?/

//Can't you tell? Through the bond of the Millenium Ring, can't you tell where he is? What he's doing?//

Bakura's voice was thick with hate. /No ::pharoh:: I can not. Ryou...he broke..../

//He broke off your connection didn't he?//

/Maybe.../

//They're looking for Joey. He's missing.//

/Why didn't--?/

//Maybe you should be asking your hikari that, not me.//

And Yami cut off the connection just as Tristan proclaimed the hopelessness of the situation. Of course the spirit's smart hikari found something that the other mortals had not. 

With a jolt, they began running towards the street.

***

Seto closed his eyes and imagined the blonde haired boy just as if he was standing right in front of him. /Don't get hurt.../ the famous CEO found himself thinking. /If you get yourself hurt you little dork I'll never forgive you...and I'll never get to find out what I was going to say to you...what you said to me...Joey..../ 

An inexplicable feeling that Seto had never felt raced through his body. It started in his chest and spread down to the very tip of his toes. Warmness covered him...what was this feeling? What was happening to him? What was he thinking?

Rolling over carefully as to not wake his little brother, Seto checked the chart next to his bed. Just what kind of drugs did they have him on?

/"Kaiba...just how drugged up are you?/

Seto started suddenly, rewarding him with a groan from Mokuba. What was that? Could he be....

....remembering?

***

"No..." he whispered. "No why don't....why can't you....remember....remember..."

Mako watched as the blonde boy on his couch rolled over, gripping the pillow and muttering strange words. He studied the boy for a moment. The tears streaming down his face and the look of pain etched in his features. 

Walking over, Mako pulled another blanket from a nearby chair and placed it on Joey's shoulders. Then he patted the boy on the head as he settled down and went to make some coffee. It was almost 7:40 am.

***

"Yugi!" Téa cried. "Where are we going?"

"To an old friend's home!"

"What?" Tristan asked. "We've searched every friend's house that Joey has!"

"Not quite." The young boy turned. "C'mon and I hope that you all have some money."

"Money?" Ryou asked. "Why?"

"For a train fare."

"What?" Téa cried. But Tristan caught on. 

"Of course!" the taller boy cried putting on more speed. "Mako Tsunami! He lives about forty-five minutes outside of town doesn't he Yugi?"

The young Keeper of the Puzzle grinned and inside his soul room, Yami nodded with appreciation. 

***

Mako laughed as his father poked him in the jaw and began another story of the great and mighty sea. Joey turned his eyes to the ground and scratched the back of his head.

He felt so out of place...so wrong. He shouldn't be here, what had be been thinking? 

At the same time, jeolousy coursed through his veins, Jealousy of Mako and his father. Jealousy of the bond that they shared. He wished that he had that kind of relationship with his father....

/"Come back here you little bastard!/

Squeezing his eyes tightly shut for a moment, to keep the tears at bay, Joey stood and bowed respectfully to Mako and his father.

Opening them, he swallowed and smiled slightly. "I must be leaving now, but I greatly thank you for your hospitality and your kindness." He tugged at the kimono that he wore. "Mako, I'll return these to you later all right?"

"Keep them my friend," Mako cried. "And let the sea always be with you!"

Joey smiled at his friends words and bowed again before leaving. He glanced at the clock on the wall as he stepped into the elevator. 

8:03.

***

"Almost...there!" Yugi panted as he ran into the apartment buliding and headed for the elevator. He pressed the button ten times repeatedly but still it did not come.

"Too slow," Tristan decided and bounded up the stairs, Yugi, Téa and Ryou close behind him. Finally they came to a stop in front of a door that proclaimed 'Tsunami'.

"Mako!" Tristan cried as he pounded on the door. "Are you in there?"

The black haired fisherman opened the door as the elevator came to a stop on the ground floor and let out a single blonde passenger who looked uncomfortable in his long kimono.

A/N: Well...this was an odd one. Not exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but hey! it's all good. R&R if you please. I'll give you a cookie. ^_^


	11. Found

::Gives cookies to everyone who reveiwed.:: Thanks! Thank you soooooo much!! 

"Dammit!" Tristan yelled and slammed his fist against the side of the elevator. "We just missed him!"

"I'll bet you that that was him in the elevator when Yugi had his button spaz attack," Téa muttered as the smaller boy blushed. Ryou collapsed after too much running up and down the stairs. 

"Maybe he'll be outside when we get there," he said softly.

"Let's hope so," Tristan replied.

It seemed to take forever for the elevator to make it's descent to the ground floor. It stopped four times but each time when the people attempting to get on saw the looks that the teenagers were giving them, they decided that it might be a good idea to wait a few more minutes.

With Tristan and Téa leading them, the four burst out of the elevator and headed for the front doors. They burst from them, frightening a few people and looked around wildly.

Tristan cursed. 

He was no where to be seen.

***

"Seto?" a soft voice asked. The CEO rolled over to see his little brother awake and staring at him.

"Yes Mokuba?"

"Do you remember....who you saw when you woke up yesterday?"

"Um..." he nodded. "Of course! You and Yugi!"

Mokuba sat up and looked at his brother. "Why didn't you tell me Seto?"

The older boy swallowed nervously. "What?"

"Joey. It was Joey who saw you fist when you woke up. Why didn't you tell me that? You said that you would tell me everything, Seto!"

The older Kaiba looked down at his hands. "I know Mokuba....but it's the stangest thing. I can't remember a single thing about Joey except for what he looks like. I can't remember....anything....

Suddenly two arms encircled the boy and lightness flooded into his heart. /Joey?/ 

But no...Mokuba's face smiled at him. "Ask any questions, big brother, and if I know the answers I will give them to you. I promise." The boy smiled at his older brother, brightly.

Seto smiled. "Thank you Mokuba...."

/As with everything, Seto Kaiba, there are consequences./

***

"I need to go home for a little while," Ryou said apologetically. "I need to make lunch for Bakura and myself and I need to catch up on some homework that I was missing from whenI was absent."

Yugi smiled. "That's okay Ryou. I need to break for a little while too." Then he turned to his two friends. "Don't worry we'll search again in a little while. But we all need some rest I think."

Tristan and Téa nodded reluctantly. "In two hours, we'll meet at Yugi's house," Tristan said. As the two boys hurried off Téa turned to her old friend. 

"Don't worry, Tristan," she whispered, throwing her arms around his neck. "We'll find him. I know we will. Mako saw him only a few hours ago." She smiled encouragingly up at him.

"I know...."Tristan whispered embracing his friend. "It's just...."

"I know," Téa replied gazing up at him. "You're worried. Don't be. He'll be fine. He's a big boy."

Tristan nodded. "It's not Joey I'm worried about. I know that he can take care of himself just fine. But....we need to find him first."

"Before who?"

"His father."

***

"Little One." The small white haired boy spun to see a taller, eviler version of himself standing in the shadows.

"Oh...hello Bakura...I was just---"

"I have a question for you Ryou."

"O--h?"

"Why did you lie? Why did you not tell me about Joey being missing? I had to find out from Yami, of all people. Why did you not just tell me?"

"Why would I?" the shy boy asked. "It's not like you care, anyway."

Bakura took a slightly startled step backwards. 

"And you'd get mad."

"Mad?"

"Yeah!" the boy exploded. "You get mad about every little thing that happens. Why wouldn't you get mad about this? I move and you get mad!"

"That was just---"

"No! That was not just once! It has happened so many times. Like last night when Rashid was over!"

"I was drunk!"

"Then maybe you'd better stop drinking!" The Keeper of the Ring turned away and the nturned back again. "You know what Bakura? I'm tired of this. Let it go."

"What?"

"You have so much anger inside of you towards Yami! Let. It. Go! It is destroying you Bakura, why can't you see it? Release whatever grudge that you have against the world and go back to being the person that you were in Egypt. Let it go Bakura. Or...or I'm leaving..."

"Ry--"

Suddenly the boy seemed to realize what he had said and he blushed bright crimson. Ryou turned and ran, leaving the old spirit standing by himself on the sidewalk.

Slowly Bakura turned in the opposite direction and began to walk, wondering where his legs would take him.

***

Slowly Joey let himself fall onto the green luscious grass and let the afternoon sun beat down on his face. He closed his eyes and imagined Seto as he had always known him. Tall...a smirk plastered on his face...hard sapphire eyes....thin, lean body...great body....

/Loser!/

Joey sat uo with a start. /Why?/ he thought. /Why Seto? He has done nothing but torment me from the first day that we met. Why him...why did I have to fall for him...I swore that I wouldn't but..../

Sighing he fell back onto the grass of the park.

/"For you Joey..."/

***

"When did I meet Joey first?"

"At Yugi's grandfather's Game Shop. You were looking for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card..."

"That's right!" Seto cried. "I remember that....they were so mad at me....Yugi especially. I remember Joey's eyes...."

"Seto?"

The CEO shook his head. "Never mind. Anyway...how old is he?"

"Sixteen."

"Parents?"

"Yeah both. His mom and sister live in Tokyo though. He lives with his dad, I guess."

"And his friends...they're Tristan, Yugi and Téa, right?"

"And that white haired kid. I can't remember---"

"Ryou, right?"

"Yeah."

***

/Great.../ Bakura thought to himself. /The park..../

He walked through i staring at the ground, pondering his hikari's words. Suddenly eleven of his words hit him like a ton of bricks. /---go back to being the person that you were in Egypt./ 

"How---?" The spirit squeezed his eyes shut. How in the name of Ra could his hikari know what he was like in Egypt. No one knew what he was really like....not even Yami and they had been the best of friends. Yami saw the shell of Bakura in Egypt....not the real Bakura....But how could Ryou know?

He was about to try the link when a familiar face stuck out at him from the green grass. Slowly Bakura tread over to the familiar figure and looked down at the boy who seemed to be sleeping.

"Well hello Joey."

***

"How does Joey do in school?" Seto asked settling back on the pillows.

Mokuba shrugged. "I don't know. Although one day you did come home, mumbling about some stupid blonde doing better then you."

Seto nodded. "Yeah I rememeber now...I swear Yugi did it for him....what about sports?"

"Not that I know of...." Mokuba lay against his big brother's chest.

"....girlfriend?"

The black haired boy chuckled. "Nope."

"Mokuba....do you know what Joey said to me just before I collapsed?"

The young teen shook his head. "Nope I don't have any idea. But the first time that you were in the hospital, Joey stayed with you for a really long time and talked to you. That's when you woke up. That's what he did this time too and it worked! You were awake...and then...."

"Yeah."

Seto closed his eyes. What was he forgetting?

***

Joey's eyes snapped open to see a pair of cold brown eyes glaring down at him. He sat up abruptly and turned to see Bakura staring at him, hands in his pockets. 

"What are you doing here?" the blonde asked. "Did Ryou send you?"

The white haired spirit shook is head. "No."

"Oh...then----?"

"I just thought that you might want to know that your friends are frantic with worry." He rolled his eyes. "Mortals. Anyway everyone is in a big huff about it all. Ryou, the Pharoh's pet, the fiend and the dork ahave been running around since about six o'clock this morning. They're pretty worried...."

"Why are you doing this?" Joey asked, standing up. "Telling me all this...."

Bakura shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm kinda of on the bad side of Ryou and---"

"And you don't want to be?"

The spirit rolled his eyes and scoffed. "No you stupid mortal. I need Ryou because he's a great cook. I've been...banned from the stove."

Joey laughed. "Riiiiight." Then seriously he bowed ever so slightly to the once evil spirirt of the Millenium Ring. "Thanks Bakura." And he went running across the park, heading for the closest taxi.

Bakura watched the blonde stumble over his kimono, chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Stupid mortals," he muttered. But he turned and walked towards home, wondering if Ryo would welcome him back.

***

A/N: Wow! I'm sorry about this one being so long and all! But I hope that you enjoyed it. R&R pweeeease!!!! ^_^


	12. Home Again

Yugi sighed as he stirred the soup tha was on the stove. Yami sat at the table, reading a book about Egyptian history. Every now and then he muttered about how historians knew nothing about Egypt. 

Suddenly the door to the Game Shop opened and closed. Yugi froze and Yami stood quickly, ready to protect his hikari if neccesary. 

"Honey," a familiar New Yorkian voice called. "I'm home!"

Yugi dropped the spoon that he had been stirring with and rushed out into the Game Shop. "Joey!" he cried. He hurled himself at this best friend and hugged him tightly. Yami followed more slowly and chuckled at his hikari. "We found you!"

Joey laughed and patted Yugi on the head. "Correction, Yug. I found you."

The Keeper of the Puzzle shrugged. "Whatever." He detached himself from his friend. "So...where were you? What happened?"

The blonde shook his head. "Can we wait til the others come over?"

Yugi nodded enthusiastically. Yami walked into the kitchen as his hikari and Joey sat down and began to talk. A moment later he came back out.

"Yugi?" he asked. "You're uh....needed in the kitchen."

Yugi looked up blankly. "What?"

"A particular food that you were making, the name I cannot remember, is boiling over and onto the floor."

The duelists eyes grew wide and Joey and Yami laughed as the boy hurled himself into the kitchen frantically.

"Ahh! The soup!"

***

He stepped into the house and closed the door quietly. "Ryou?" he called softly. He made his way into the kitchen were a note fluttered in the breeze of an opened window. 

Gone to the store, be back in ten minutes.

Bakura swallowed and turned the refrigerator. He didn't have much time...

***

"Mr. Kaiba?" a doctor with brown hair and kind features poked his head in the door in time to see Mokuba leap off of a chair and land next to Seto on the hospital bed. Immediately a sheepish look spread over the young teen's* face. The doctor smiled. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Hey Mokuba," Seto said as cheerfully as he could in front of his brother. "There's fifty cents on the counter. Take it and go call Yugi or Tristan okay? See if they have heard anything from Joey yet."

The small black haired boy grinned and leapt of the bed and ran out of the door. 

"So..." Seto turned his attention to the doctor. "How bad is it?"

He shook his head. "Not bad at all. Providing that you do not have any more...eh...complications, you can be out of here as early as tomorrow afternoon. What do you think?"

"That's....great...." the famous CEO looked up at the doctor. "But what about...my memory? When will I get it back? When will I be able to remember?"

The doctor shrugged. "I wish that I knew Mr. Kaiba, I really do, but I don't. There is no way to tell. It could be a month, it could be a year, it could be tomorrow." He shrugged again. 

"Is there---"

"No. I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, but there is no way to prematurely blocked memories. It just has never been done. The human race doesn't know enough about the human psyche to be able to perform such a miracle."

"Oh...."

"Doctor Milanawitz to the Nurse's Station!" the intercom cried. "I repeat, Dr. Milanawitz to the Nurse's Station."

The doctor smiled quickly. "I really must go Mr. Kaiba." He bowed quickly. "I'll be back later tonight. Oh and---" he winked. "Make sure your brother doesn't hurt himself jumping on everything."

He exited quickly, making Mokuba leap from his hiding spot outside of the doorway and hurtle down the hallway towards a pay phone.

***

"Joey!" Téa hurled herself at the blonde boy, the second that she saw him standing in the doorway. "We were so worried1"

Joey laughed. "So I figured."

Tristan followed slower and smiled at his oldest friend. "Hey buddy. Wanna tell us what happened?"

"Sure...sit down..."

Téa sat down quickly next to Tristan on the couch and Yugi and Joey sat in two chairs in front of the couch. 

"So?" Téa asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Joey nodded. "I'm fine now...but last night, I was really messed up. I guess I just couldn't believe that Seto could forget me...no...I didn't want to believe that Seto could forget me. I stood in front of his door for, like, a half hour wondering what to do and...I couldn't take it anymore. So I ran off."

"Why didn't you come to us?" Tristan asked.

"I couldn't...." he shook his head. "No offence guys, but you all remind me of Seto more then anything. I mean with everything that's happened to all of us, you guys are just reminders of him and....right then I just couldn't deal with any memeories at all. So...I ran."

"To Mako's," Téa filled in. 

Joey smiled. "So you figured out the last place that you'd ever find me..."

"I personally thought that it would be at Mai's...." Tristan muttered and Joey laughed.

"Yeah...I went to Mako's...Did you know that he found his Dad?" Joey asked. The three friends gasped.

"Really?" Téa cried. "When?"

"A couple on months ago...anyway....I couldn't stay there for long with his and his dad's strong bond and all....so again I left..."

"Still wearing Mako's clothes...I hope..." Tristan muttered indicating to his friend's kimono. 

Joey laughed again. "Yeah. So now I'm---"

His story was cut off by a high shrill ringing. The phone. Yugi leapt up and held it gently to his ear. 

"Hello?"

***

Ryou opened the door and closed it again. He sighed and made his way into the kitchen, ditching his thin jacket and keys to the house along the way.

The moment that he stepped into the kitchen, he realized something was wrong. The door to the refrigerator was hanging wide open and a body was passed out in front of it....a liquid seeping around him....

"Bakura!" the albino cried and knelt by his yami's side. "Bakura," he whispered shaking the spirit. "Are you alright?"

"I'm sorry Ryou..." came the drunken and gargled reply. "I tried....I really did...but..."

"Tried what?" Ryou asked. Then he noticed the beer bottles smashed around his yami and the beer all over the floor. "Bakura?"

"I tried to get rid of it all...but..."

"Oh Bakura..." Ryou hugged his darker half tightly to him. "I didn't even expect you to.....to even try...." he tightened his grip around the drunken spirit. "Bakura...."

Had he looked only a few feet away to the answering box he would have seen it blinking, indicating a message. Had he pressed the small triangular button, he would have heard Yugi's excited voice announcing that they'd found Joey. 

***

"Hello is Yugi there?"

"Speaking."

"Yugi, it's Mokuba!" the boy was speaking quickly and glancing around him. He'd sworn that the doctor had seen him lunge from his hiding spot...

"Oh hey Mokuba, how's your brother?" the short duelist asked.

"Alright...I think." The boy paused. "I mean he'll be out of here by tomorrow afternoon and all but....he might not remember for a really long time and...he needs to Yugi."

"You mean---"

"When you find Joey, he needs to see Seto and tell him just what he said that night, whatever it was. Okay Yugi?"

"I'll talk to Joey. We found him..."

"Please Yugi," Mokuba begged. "For my brother...for Seto I am begging you."

"Okay Mokuba," Yugi whispered, clutching the phone tightly and turning to his ear. "Okay..."

***

/Then maybe you'd better stop drinking!\

He tossed and turned, his hikari's words haunting him.

/You know what Bakura? I'm tired of this. Let it go.\

No....Ryou....

/--go back to being the person that you were in Egypt.\

Egypt...

/It is destroying you Bakura!\

No....Wait! His eyes snapped wide open to find that he was staring at the stained ceiling of his bedroom. He had passed out or something....oh yeah... 

It all came flying back. 

/--go back to being the person that you were in Egypt.\

//Ryou?// he asked hoping that his lighter side had not permanently severed the connection between them.

/Oh hi Bakura! I'm making some lunch of you'd like it. There is dip and---/

The thought of food began to turn the yami's stomach turn. //No Ryou...but how did you know what I was like in Egypt?//

/What are you talking about Bakura?/

//You said that I should go back to being the person that I was in Egypt. But how did you know what I was like in Egypt. I certainly never told you. So?//

/Well..../ Hastily Ryou put a pan down. /Ya see that's a funny story.../

//I'm listening.//

***

"I'm just going to go home to get some clothes and then I;ll be back, okay Yugi?" Joey smiled confidently at his shorter friend. 

"Of course," Yugi smiled nervously remembering the last run in he'd had with Joey's father. It hadn't been pretty.... "And then you'll be back and in the morning we'll go to see Kaiba right?"

Joey nodded his shaggy head. "Right."

If only that had been true....


	13. Caught

He stuck his head hastily into the slightly open doorway. The coast was clear. With the practiced stealth of a cat stalking a bird, Joey crept down the hallway and towards his room. If he could just get in and out without his "father" waking up...

Once in his room, he moved quickly around, gathering everything that he might need. He pulled a book full of pictures from his closet and put it in a small backpack. Some CDs...homework...pants...shirts...school uniform...

He stuck his hands in his pockets, wondering what else he could possibly need. His hand came in contact with a piece of paper. Curiously, he pulled it out and opened it. 

Oh yeah...the paragraph written in Latin...Kaiba's paragraph written in Latin. He stared intently at it as if that would somehow translate it into a language he could actually read.

Sighing and stuffing the paper back into his pocket, the blonde boy picked up his back pack and slowly made his way out of his room. Slowly he crept down the hall and into the living room where his "father" was sleeping.

As he slipped by the chair, the man's foot jerkily moved out and into Joey's path. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground and his father was groaning and opening his eyes. 

Quicker then lightening, Joey leapy up and made a beeline for the door. But he wasn't fast enough. A thick hand wrapped around his ankle and he slammed against the floor. 

Blood trickled from his broken lips....he groaned.

This was just the beginning.

***

//Why do we have to go to the museum.//

Ryou sighed. /It's someone in the museum, Bakura. She---/ he sighed. /You'll see in a moment./

A figure appeared before them, tall and graceful. Her long black hair fell elegantly over her shoulders. "Hello Ryou," Ishizu said softly. Her eyes fell on the boy's companion and she smirked uncharacteristically. "Hello Bakura."

"Ishizu," the spirit laughed. "Last time I saw you, you were laying in a pool of your own blood in Egypt."

"Funny," she replied uncharacteristically sarcastic. "Last time I recall seeing you, you were standing over me with a knife."

"Um..." Ryou looked uncertainly from Bakura to Ishizu and back to Bakura. 

"So little hikari," Bakura asked, eyes still on the keeper of the Millenium Necklace. "What does Ishizu have to do with knowing my past."

The Necklace glowed slightly and Ishizu smiled. "Ah...yes. Ryou came in one day, sad and lonely. I asked him what the problem was and he replied, very bluntly I might add, that you were all of his problems." Ryou twisted his shirt nervously. "And I decided, Bakura, that your little hikari needed to see what you used to be like. Before you killed. Before you robbed." 

"You had no---" Bakura began.

"I had every right. Ryou has the right to know what his counterpart was once like. You used to love Bakura." Her voice turned bitter. "What happened."

"You happened," came to cold reply. "You came waltzing in and stole everything that was normal to me."

"Me?" Ishizu cried. 

"Yes. You stole my heart you know!" Bakura cried, no longer caring who knew. "And then stuffed it in a bag and chopped it up into little pieces!" 

Ryou stared at his counterpart incredulously. His...Bakura had been in love? 

"C'mon Ryou," Bakura said, glaring at Ishizu. "We're leaving."

"No." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Shaking his head, he continued. "No Bakura. I think that you should see how you once were." When the spirit shook his head, Ryou begged with his huge brown eyes. "C'mon Bakura...you owe it to yourself...and to me...and apparently to Ishizu as well....pllleeeaaasssseeeee...."

"Mortals..." the ancient Tomb Robber muttered rolling his eyes. "Fine..."

Ryou grinned and turned to Ishizu who smiled proudly at the younger boy and winked.

***

"Ah!" He yelped as a fist the size of a Thanksgiving ham slammed into his jaw. Blood oozed from his broken gums and he fell to the floor, holding himself up with one hand while the other gently touched his jaw.

"Where ya been kid?" the man who called himself a father yelled drunkenly, slamming his fish into Joey's back. "You leave all of a sudden? You know what I'll do to you!"

The hand slapped him, palm wide open across his face. He winced but stared defantly up at the man. Anger flared in his eyes. "You have pushed me around long enough," he growled.

"What's that?" Donocha laughed. "What's that I hear? A puppy whining?"

With a gutteral growl, Joey mustered up his strength and hurled himself at his father. The huge drunken man laughed and swatted his son away as if he were a bug flying around him. Joey hit the wall hard and slumped down onto the ground, fading in and out of cousiousness. In the end it was his lucidity, or lack thereof, that saved him. Had he been totally aware at that moment of every punch his father threw....

He would have been far worse then dead.

***

Yugi paced anxiously around Tristan who was sitting in a chair, lounging and Téa who was laying on the couch.

"Something weird is going on," the small boy said as he paced. 

"What do ya mean?" Tristan asked, continuing to count the tiles on the ceiling, out of pure bordom.

"I mean Ryou hasn't called back yet and it's been over and hour and a half since we called. And Joey's been gone almost forty five minutes, It shouldn't take him that long to get his stuff and get back..."

"Oh Yugi..." Téa sighed. "It's at least a half hour to the Wheeler's apartment. Then he has to get his stuff and come all the way back."

The small boy sighed again and began to pace, unaware that he had stopped while Téa had spoken. "Maybe..."

But something wasn't right. He could just....just feel it. There was just something...

In his soul room, Yami nodded, agreeing with his hikari's thoughts. Something was not right.

***

"Look..." 

The three of them were floating above a large bazaar of Egypt. Ryou smiled at all of the people running around on the streets below him and Ishizu chuckled at five kids running through the crowds of people.

"Watch..." she whispered.

"Hurry up Anzu!" a voice cried. It was the tallest boy, a ruffian with familiar features and brown hair. He was in the lead of his four friends, but not by much.

The brown haired girl, who was close behind him panted. "I'm...hurrying...."

Just behind her a boy with blonde hair was laughing wildly and generally getting a kick out of the whole idea of being chased. He leapt into a cartwheel and pulled up next to the gilr who grudgingly stuck her tongue out at him.

On the other side of the girl was a short, very thin boy, wearing an all black cape that fluttered gently around him as he ran. He grinned fleetingly at the girl as they hurried into an alley.

At the end of the pack was a tall boy with strange white hair. He was laughing along with the blonde and pokiing the boy in the back. He ducked and dodged everything that the butcher behind them threw, including a whole chicken.

"It's you, Bakura," Ryou whispered. "Don't you remember all of this? All of this happiness?"

"What happiness," the spirit growled. "Anzu ended up dead. Honda, that's the one that looks like the dork, ended up a guard for the Pharaoh, a job that was supposed to go to me. Jonouchi, the one that looks like punk, lived his whole life on the streets and Yami goes on to be one of the most famous Pharaoh;s of all time. And ya know what Ryou? I didn't do squat. In fact somehow I ended up with her little brother---" he made a jerking motion at Ishizu. "---who took me over and tried to make me kill Yami, my BEST FRIEND!" The spirit was breathing heavily now. "And of course that put Yami and myself at odds and now he hates me. And always will. That--Ryou--is why I did not want to do this silly thing. Because all the past does is remind you of your mistakes. That's all its good for." He turned sulkily towards Ishizu. "I wanna go back. Now."

***

He winced as his "father's" foot slammed into his side and he groaned and rolled over, blood spilling from his mouth. A groan must have escaped his lips because the next thing he knew, Donocha had hauled him up and hurled him against the wall so hard that a picture of Joey and Serenity fell to the ground and cracked.

All while this was going on, Donocha was screaming at his son about what an aweful boy he was and how much he deserved to die. He said that he was doing Joey a favor, but the blonde boy always blacked out when he got to the part of how he was doing his son a favor by beating the living daylights out of him.

Foggily, he gazed up at the ceiling...white ceiling....there was only one place that he wshed to be right now...

/For you.../

"Seto...."

***

"Seto!"

His eyes snapped open and even before his eyes took in the room around him, his thoughts turned to a certain blonde haired duelist. 

"Joey?" He looked around. It was the afternoon, going into night. Mokuba had fallen asleep again next to his brother. Seto smiled at the young boy. He was so tired.

"Seetooo!" 

The voice sounded as if it was right next to his ear...but no one was there....

"Joey?" he whispered again. A sudden uncanny and incharacteristical fear swept through the elder Kaiba. He grabbed at the phone that the nurse had installed and dialed Yugi's number.

Joey...

A/N: Hey everyone I wanted to get this chapter up before I left so its a little shorter then I wanted it to be. Eh anyway, I won't be updating for about 2 weeks, due to the fact that I'll be out of the country. Anyway read and enjoy! Ireland here come! ^_^ have a great vacation everyone!


	14. Taken

"I know it sounds crazy, Tristan, but you have to believe me. Joey's in trouble." He couldn't believe he was actually saying this. "I can...I can feel it."

Tristan pressed the phone even tighter to his ear. "Like--like a sharp pain in your chest?" Téa looked up, recognizing the description and Yugi stopped pacing and went in search for the other phone. 

"Yeah..." Seto Kaiba replied twisting his sheet tightly.

"You must have some bond with him Kaiba..." Although he didn't know it, Tristan's words made the CEO squirm even more. "The same thing happened to Joey Téa and myself when Yugi was dueling in the Shadow Realm."

"Why?" Seto asked still skeptical about the whole Shadow Realm thing. "I mean why did you get that feeling?"

"Because..." Tristan said softly. "Yugi almost lost his soul in the Shadow Realm forever."

In his soul room Yami shuddered clearly remembering the incident.

"I'm assuming that's a bad thing," the hospitalized teen muttered. 

"Very bad," Tristan agreed.

"Then get out there and find him!" Seto cried. "The doctor is being very adament about not letting me out until tomorrow afternoon. So find him. PLease, he's in trouble."

Yugi who had found the cordless phone nodded. "Don't worry Kaiba, we'll find him."

***

"C'mon!" Yugi cried as he hurtled down the street. "We have to get to Joey's apartment. That's where he has to be!"

Tristan nodded and put on some extra speed. Téa ran as fast as she could but was still a few feet behind Yugi and Tristan. They slowed to let her catch up. 

"Go as fast as you can," the brown haired girl cried. "Don't worry about me! Hurry!"

The two boy's nodded and turned a corner sharply almost running into three girls walking the opposite way.

***

Seto set the phone down and sighed. 

Maybe he was just over reacting. Maybe Joey wasn't in trouble at all and maybe he was just imagining it all.

That thought abandoned his mind as red hot pain flashed through his chest. He winced and clutched it tightly, blue eyes shut trying to ignore it.

What if he was having a heart attack?

/"Why? After all I have put you through..."/

/"Because Kaiba...that's what you do. Even if they don't like you but you...you see something in them, you try to get them back. It's just what you do."/

Seto winced again but not from the pain in his chest, which had subsided.

He sighed and wished that he hadn't sent Mokuba home.

"When they find you Joey," Seto whispered closing his eyes. "You damn well better be okay."

***

He vaguely felt rough hands pick him up and hurl him against the wall. Blood oozed down the side of Joey's head and dripped onto the rug. 

The world was spinning...spinning....his father's face....Seto....he had to stay awake...he had to visit Seto....had to tell him...and Yugi...had to...

Finally he could no longer hold onto any coherent thoughts. His mind went black as did the world around him and he knew no more.

***

They hurried up the stairs as fast as they could, the distance and the speed finally catching up with both Yugi and Tristan. They made it to the third floor and slammed open the door that read 'Wheeler'.

"Joey!"

They froze as they entered the apartment and studied the room around them sadly. The carpet had a thick layer of blood in spots and the wall near the kitchen had a huge splotch of crimson stained onto it. There were beer bottles and cans litttering the floor. Joey'd bag lay in the living room. 

And it was empty.

"Dammit!" Tristan swore loudly. "They could be anywhere!"

Téa wobbled into the room out and breath and gasped, tears brimming in her azure eyes. "Oh my God..." she whispered.

Yugi walked wordlessly over to Joey's bag and picked it up. Carefully he unzipped it and looked inside. Clothing...the blonde's favorite shirt...his most prized pants...the sweatshirt Téa gave him for Christmas...a book...?

Curiosly the boy opened the thin book and smiled softly. It was a picture album...Tears spilled from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. There he and Joey were at the park...there was Serenity smiling at the camera, her now perfect eyes wide and happy. There was Tristan and Téa grinning at the camera and flashing two fingers at the camera. 

And there was Seto. It was apparently a picture that Joey had snapped when no one, including the brown haired boy, was looking. The CEO was writing something, his eyes on his work, intently staring at the paper...

/"Don't worry Kaiba. We'll find him."/

For them...they had to find Joey...for Serenity, for Seto...

The hoplessness that had been filling Yugi's heart was immediately banished by the sight of so many happy faces. They had to find him...but where could he be...? 

He stared down at the picture og himself and Joey intently as if Joey would answer him.

And, in a sense, he did.

At that moment, Téa's cell phone began to ring.

***

"Woah!" Ishizu stared down at her Millenium Item which was glowing radiantly. Ryou turned back but Bakura kept walking. 

"What is it?" the mortal boy asked inquiringly, studying the Necklace.

"I put an additional spell on it," the Egyptian explained. "So that whenever the Pharaoh or any of his friends, yourself and your spirit included, Ryou, were in trouble, my Necklace, which can show me the present, would show where you were and what was happening."

"Why?" the white haired boy asked.

"Because," Ishizu replied. "All of you need to be alive if the past is truely to repeat itself. Even your stubborn spirit, Ryou."

"I heard that!" Bakura cried. He was at the end of the hall and had turned back to find out why his hikari was not following him. 

"So who is it?" Ryou asked. "Who is in trouble?"

Ishizu shrugged. "I don't know. Come young one." She cupped her hands around the Necklace and closed her eyes.

"Hey!" Bakura yelled, sprinting across the hall. "No way! Ryou and I are going---"

***

Suddenly they were floating above a man dragging a half dead looking body. The body was bloody and bruised but still recognizable as a few locks of blonde hair fell from the boy's head. 

Instantly, Ryou's eyes opened wide. "It's Joey!" he cried.

Ishizu bit her lip. "Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. He's one of Yugi's friends...the only blonde one...if it were Yugi's bangs," Ryou continued, as if hearing Ishizu's unasked question. "It would be shaped differently."

"So who's the man?" asked a voice behind the two. It was Bakura. He shrugged at his hikari's stare. "Apparently Ishizu wanted me to see this as well. So who's the man?"

Ryou stared down at the retreating back as Ishizu looked around for a landmark, already too aware of just who the man was.

"His father..."

***

"Hello?" Téa asked into the phone. "Oh...hi Ryou...." her eyes lit up. "Are you sure? You're absolutely positive?" She smiled. "Thank you so much---oh well then thank Ishizu. I'll see you later." She turned to her friends. "I know where Joey is."

***

He blonked his eyes carefully open and breathed shakily in. The scent of salt invaded his lungs making him choke and involuntarily cough. His "father" glared dow at him. 

"So...you're awake. Well I've found a way to put you out of comission. Forever. A way to make it so that you'll never bother me again, punk. Smell the ocean? Well breath deeply and get used to it, because it's the last thing that you're ever gonna smell."

His words sank slowly into Joey's dulled mind. And the only thing that he could think of was that at least now he would be out of his misery.

***

"Hurry!" Tristan yelled impatiently at the taxi driver, who swerved to miss a car and two people and then sped on towards the docks. 

"I'm goin' as fast as I can!" the driver cried.

A few moments later they pulled into the docks. Before the cab had even stopped, Tristan and Yugi were out of the car and running down the docks. Téa threw a couple hundred yen at the taxi driver and hurried away. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket book and dialed the #911. 

"Hello?" 

"Please someone needs to get to the docks!" she cried. "An ambulence, a cop, anything, I think my friend is about to be killed!"

They found him easily even in the falling darkness. He had tied Joey up hog style and had and anchor tied to the boy. Tristan hit Donocha hard in the middle, slamming him against the docks.

Yugi hurried to Joey's side and began to untie the ropes as fast as he could. The blonde boy looked up and smiled vaguely at his friend. "Yugi?" he whispered, using his good eye to study his friend.

"I'm here," he whispered. "Don't worry, I'm here..."

"Watch...ou---"

Suddebly the smaller boy was batted away like a fly. He hit the dock hard and winced. Tristan groaned from where he lay. Yugi snapped his eyes open again to see the insane man holding boy above his head. 

"No!"

SPLASH!

"Jooooeyyyyyy! Nooooooooooooo!"

A/N: Sorry, another cliffie. Heh heh. Anyway, yes my trip to Ireland was great. Enjoy! Hope you like this chapter better then I did. ^_^


	15. Savior?

"Nooooooo!"

~Become a wind unfathomable distress  
I'll hold your lonliness~

"Joey!" He was up, running as fast as he could towards the end of the dock, running faster then he'd ever moved before. Had to get there in time...

He flung himself off of the end of the dock, his mind only on his friend, not on how cold the water might be, not on the air, not on Tristan or Téa or even the man behind him who called himself a father. But only on Joey...

~The two of us are bracing wind, oneness  
Even if the world comes to an end, I won't leave you~

/I can't stop...I swore I'd bring you back Joey. I told Kaiba that I'd bring you back to him And I will! I will! And you're my best friend!/

***

~When two soul that have shed their loneliness  
Embrace and melt into one  
From out of loneliness, love is born~

"Ahhhhhh!" In his hospital room, Seto screamed at the excrutiating pain that was ripping through his body. He held his chest as a nurse came running in, concern written all over her face. 

"Mr. Kaiba?" she was asking. "Mr. Kaiba?"

Joey...

***

~Become a wind unfathomable distress  
I'll hold your lonliness~

He hit the cold water and opened his eyes. There! There he was! 

The blonde boy was trying to escape, trying to swim back up, but he just didn't have enough strength with the anchor tied to him. And the fact that his hands and legs were bound...

The two of us are bracing wind, oneness  
Even if the world comes to an end, I won't leave you 

He reached out for his friend having a sudden sense of deja vu*. Joey slipped away from the boy's grip.

/Yami! I need your help!/

And in a second the ancient Pharaoh appeared, confused by the water around him.

//Yugi?//

/Joey!/ the mortal boy cried. /You have to get Joey!/

The Pharaoh quickly took control of his hikari's body and swam as fast as he could towards the sinking body. Joey's eyes were closed and only one bubble escaped from his mouth. Yami's hand latched onto the blonde's forearm with but the blonde didn't even flinch.

No...oh no....

***

Tristan stood rubbing his head. Blood oozed through his fingers but he ignored it and turned to Téa who was anxiously watching the water. 

"Where are they?" he asked.

With a shaking hand, the brown haired girl pointed.

"Oh no..."

A few bubbles popped at the surface as the two friends clutched hands and watched anxiously. Behind them they heard sirens come screaming their way.

And even though they hadn't seen a bubble in over thirty seconds, still they watched and still they waited for the moment when their friends might appear again.

***

"Mr. Kaiba, the doctor says that you really need to take this pills. It might help with whatever might be causing this pain. Please Mr. Kaiba!" the nurse cried as the boy looked away. "The doctor insists!"

"Screw the doctor," he muttered. The nurse gave him a glare filled with malice and then left the teen to suffer by himself.

With the pain still ripping through his chest Seto sat up slowly, using one hand to lever himself up and keeping the other clutched at his heart.

Then all of a sudden----

It was gone.

Suddenly he could breath freely without feeling the weight of a safe compressing his lungs. All of a sudden the pain that had been ripping his body to pieces disappeared. It was just gone...

Abruptly he wondered if that really was such a good thing.

***

"We need Dr. Miyuzaki! Right now! I don't care if he's operating on Nbou Utemetse! He is needed here right now!"

"Nurse, he's loosing blood fast. We are going to need a blood donor very soon." 

The woman sighed. "Great...what's his blood type?"

The man did a quick blood test and grimaced. "AB positive."

"Dammit!" she sighed again. "Search the hospital for all possible AB positive blood donors."

"Yes ma'am!"

***

"Seto Kaiba?"

The teenage boy cracked an eye open and glanced up at the nurse standing before him. This one was different then the one before.

"Yes?"

"Your blood type is AB positive is it not?"

"Last time I checked," the boy replied sarcastically. 

The Nurse rolled her eyes and sighed. "There is a boy who is loosing blood fast and he needs someone to donate blood. Type AB positive blood."

"No," Seto said his old selfishness creeping back into him. "No way your sticking a needle into me just to save some guy I don't even know."

"Please Mr. Kaiba---"

"No." Suddenly as if Mokuba himself were standing right next to him, he heard his little brother's voice scolding him for his selfishness.

/"C'mon Seto. At least find out the guy's name."/

"What's his name?" Seto asked sighing.

"Joey Wheeler."

"What?" Blue eyes grew wide and the brown haired boy sat up quickly. "Take me too him. I'll give him as much blood as he needs okay?" The Nurse nodded surprised by the boy's sudden change of mind and lead him down the hall.

***

Light...he remembered light....and voices...talking earnestly...where-where was he? Where was---

Blackness.

***

He stood in the doorway to the living room and watched silently as his yami watched TV. Some show about a kid who could fight evil spirits or something. Finally he took a deep breath and pulled on his jacket.

"I'm going to the hospital, okay Bakura?" he said softly. 

Bakura didn't even acknowledge his hikari's words, just stared at the television as a boy with black hair leapt at a demon. Ryou opened his mouth again then stopped and turned his eyes to the ground.

"I'll be back later," the white haired mortal whispered softly then pulled the door open. He turned back the see Bakura's face illuminated in the soft glow of the television.

"Bye." And Ryou was gone, pulling the door closed tightly.

As soon as his hikari was gone, Bakura lay his head back on the couch and closed his eyes tightly, ignoring the television. Suddenly he stood and headed for the door then stopped, tunred and flung himself back on the couch. 

He turned his brown eyes to the television and didn't move for two hours.

***

He took a deep breath and turned away from the blonde nurse coming at him with a needle. He gritted his teeth as she checked it and smiled at him.

"Don't worry Mr. Kaiba," she said. "This won't hurt but a bit."

Liar.

He swallowed as the needle sunk under his skin. It hurt so badly. It felt as if...well as if somoene was sticking a really sharp object into his skin. He was tempted to tell her to quit it and to go find someone else to donate blood. But he didn't. The images of what could be worng with Joey just kept flashing through his mind, kept haunting his thoughts. 

He felt the needle pulling from his skin and looked over to see that was just what was happening. A wave of nausea swept through his body, making him nearly loose his lunch right then and there. But he hung on...

/"For you...."/

Seto flinched. Another memor---

Suddenly he remembered. Suddenly he realized what he'd been trying to remember for so long. But the nausea caught up with him as the needle pulled from his skin.

He leaned over and let all of his lunch come up.

*You remember the time when Joey jumped off of the boat to get Yugi's Exodia cards and then Yugi jumped off and saved Joey?

A/N: Well what do ya think? R&R if you please. Remember the 113th reveiwer gets a prize. A story with any pairings you want? How does that sound?


	16. The Return to the Hospital

He was running. Always running...he could feel the dark figure behind him closing in, could feel his hate and his wrath. The pain twisted around him...

He turned to face the figure, finally tired of running. The dark figure loomed over him and then suddenly dropped, forming a fat ugly figure with a beer bottle clutched in his pudgy hand.

Fear crept through him and he turned away from the figure.

Running. Always running.

***

"Joey!" a voice shrieked. A short girl with long brown hair leapt forward only to be caught by a doctor. 

"You are not allowed in there, ma'am."

The girl turned her pleading eyes on the man. "Please that's my brother." She stared past him into the window. "What happened to him? Will he be okay?" 

The doctor sighed. "I don't know. No one knows anything right now. He's just come out of surgery. A patient was kind enough to donate blood to him."

"But will be be okay?" Serenity whispered. "He'll be okay won't he?" 

The doctor shook his head. "I don't know."

From aorund the corner, a tall boy with brown hair watched as the grey-eyed girl broke down crying for her brother.

***

Yugi shivered as they waited in the waiting room. His clothes were still wet, even though he'd been out of the water for almost an three hours. 

"Yugi," Téa whipered. "You really shoould go home and get changed."

//Yes// Yani agreed. //You should listen to her.//

"No," the boy shook his head. "I can't."

/I can't Yami. What if he wakes up? More importantly, what if he doesn't wake up. I...I want to be here./

//At least call you grandfather and ask him to bring you some clothes, okay?//

/Yes Yami./

He stood and told his friends where he was going before walking slowly down the hallway, still dazed. 

[Water...all around him...he was going to drown....going to die even before he'd begun to live. But he couldn't...couldn't die...couldn't let Joey down...couldn't let Kaiba down...or Serenity...had too....So much...water...lungs...exploding...]

The boy shivered. /Yami?/

//Of course little one.//

/But I want to talk to Grandpa okay?/

//Anything you want.//

With a flash, the ancient Pharaoh appeared and hurried down the hall to a pay phone.

***

Téa looked up to see a sobbing girl enter the waiting room. She looked vaguely familiar...

"Serenity?" Tristan asked. The girl looked up, grey eyes full of sorrow. In a second, the brown haired boy was up and moving quickly towards her. She collapsed into his arms and began to sob again.

The brown haired girl came quickly to stand by the two.

"Serenity?" she whispered. "What's wrong?"

"It's Joey," the girl wailed. "He's so--so dead looking and he's hooked up to all of these machines and---"

"You saw him?" Tristan asked pulling the girl away from his chest and staring into her eyes. "When? How? Where?"

"I sn--uck in becau--se I j-just had to see what he l--looked like. And he's s--o so---!" The girl clutched her fists angrily against Tristan's chest and began to sob. The taller boy moved to the couch and sat down, Serenity falling into her lap and curling up tightly.

Téa sighed and sat down to the left of Tristan and turned her eyes to the clock.

***

"Grandpa?"

"Yugi! Where are you? I have been so----"

Grandpa I need a change of cloths at the hospital okay? Can you bring them as soon as you can?" 

"Why? What's wrong?" the old man cried. "Is Serenity okay? Has Kaiba gotton sick again? Did Téa fall---"

"No Grandpa, it's Joey." Tears came to the boy's purple eyes as he said those words. "His father...he....he--" The boy was about to loose control so quickly, Yami took over the boy's body again. "He beat Joey to a inch of his life and then hurled him into the ocean."

"Yami?" Solomon asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes. Yugi needed some time in his soul room."

"Is Joey alright?"

"I don't know. He hasn't yet awoken if that is what your asking." Yami turned his eyes to see Serenity crying and hugging Tristan in the waiting room. "We must go now, but if you could please bring some clothes..."

In the Game Shop Solomon nodded. "Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you."

***

"Help!" The figure was bearing down on him, eyes glowing a deep red. The blonde boy cowered beneath the figure. "Someone please help me!" he cried.

"Don't worry Joey!" a voice called. Two boys leapt from the shadows and attacked the huge figure.

"Yugi?" Joey whispered. "Tristan?"

He watched in horoor, unable to move as the figure threw off Yugi's small form. The boy was flung against the ground. Tristan managed to hang on a little longer but was eventually thrown off as well and, as Yugi, lay still.

"Noooooooooooo!" Desperately the blonde duelist tried to move, tried to save his friends. But he couldn't. Tears streaming from his eyes, he watched as they disappeared. "Nooo!"

Hungrily, the figure turned back to him.

***

He pulled the lomg white jacket hastily over his hospital gown and pulled it tightly around him. Then he started down the halll way confidently, all too aware that his brown hair was very messy and that he wasn't wearing any shoes, neither problems something he could solve at the moment. 

Seto adverted his blue eyes as another doctor passed by him and then moved towards the Nurse's Station. Sighing, he shoved a pair of glasses onto his face and hoped that the nurse on duty would be an old woman and not someone who might recognize him as Teen Magazine's Hottest Smart Guy. 

He was in luck.

"I need the room number for patient Joey Wheeler," he said gruffly, deepening his voice.

The nurse barely looked up at him. "Room 113."

Seto nodded and moved shakily down the hall and into the right direction. Soon, he came upon the door and looked quickly around to make sure that no one was around. Luckily it was late at night. Quickly he slipped into the room and closed all of the curtains before pulling off the glasses that he'd found in the doctor's lounge. However, he kept the jacket on, still too conscious of the fact that he was wearing a hospital gown. 

Sighing he looked down at the blonde boy laying before him and pulled up a chair to the bed. He stared at all of the tubes snaking in and out of him. He wondered if he was feeling what Joey was feeling when he was in the same position. Such pain...such helplessness....

Seto smiled. "Well Joey, I guess its my turn...."

A/N: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Sorry for taking so loong! THe next one will come out quicker I promise!!! R&R please!!! I'll gove you a moogle sticker and a cookie if you do! ^_^


	17. Returning the Favor

"Yugi," a voice called. The boy groggily opened his eyes and sat up yawning. Where was he? The over extremeness of white attacked his senses. 

Oh yeah. The hospital.

"Yugi."

He looked towards the familiar voice. His grandfather was leaning over him and smiling vaguely. "I brought you the clothes like you asked," he said quietly.

"What time is it?" the teen mumbled.

"Almost 1:00 A.M," Solomon replied easing his grandson onto his feet. 

Blinking, Yugi looked around to see that his friends were asleep as soundly as he had been moments ago. Serenity was curled up in Tristan's lap, her face still red from the tears. Téa, despite all her arguments against it, was snoring gently draped in a comfy looking purple chair. 

Quickly Yugi closed his eyes and slipped into his yami's soul room. The spirit was laying on a couch staring at the ceiling where images played across it like a movie screen. Yugi opened his eyes quickly, not wanting to spy on his darker self.

"Yugi? I brought you some clothing," Solomon said. The boy looked down at the bag that his grandfather handed him. 

"Thank you Grandpa..." the boy murmured and headed for the bathroom. "I'll be right back..."

***

"So..." Seto looked around him and then up at the clock, 12:50 AM, anywhere but Joey's face. He would rather look at anything else in the world then the boy's face...bruised...cut...

"Well Joey I guess I owe it to you to help you in any way that I can seeing as how that's what you did to me. And there's nothing more that I hate then owing someone something. But you already know that..." He sighed realizing just how difficult this was going to be.

"Since I woke up I've been trying to figure out what you said to me that night, Joey. I've been trying to figure out exactly what happened but...no one will tell me. Not even Yugi. He told me that I needed to hear it from you. But now..." Seto looked down at his hands. "Well now you're in this condition. But I think I've figured it out. I still want to hear it from you though....and that's why you've got to wake up Joey. Because I need to know. I need to know what happened....what was said..."

"I don't understand it Joey. I don't understand why you would stay in this little room and talk to a corpse like body and much less....I can't understand why you would try to save me. Me of all people. After all I've been so---so---that's the other reason you have to wake up. I need to know."

He chuckled. "Wow. I just realized how selfish I sound. Mokuba would be ashamed...but...Joey there's a girl out there waiting for you to wake up so that she can hug you. Your little sister was sobbing last time I saw her. Absolutely sobbing...and Tristan, you're oldest friend, I don't think that I've ever seen him so...so..." Seto sighed wondering how he was going to continue. "And Téa, she's so worried about you...and Yugi. If you don't wake up blondie, he'll never forgive himself. He's too hard on himself, I'm sure that he blames himself for not being able to save you quicker."

Anger flared through the brunette's veins as he squeezed the side of the chair. "Man if I ever get my hands on that so called father of yours I swear....he reminds me so much of Gozaburo..." he couldn't believe what he was saying or what else was about to spill from his lips. He had never told this to anyone no matter what state they were in, not even Mokuba. "He was just like your father, Joey, cruel and cold and---"

Seto was aware that there seemed to be a spell over him, yet he didn't fight it. It felt good. To say all of this stuff. "I guess...I guess I'm kind of sorry about all the times I was rough on you...calling you a chihuahua and all but...there was a reason for that. I guess...."

***

"Help me!" he screamed. "Help! Please someone help meeee!"

There was a sudden burst of bright light that sent Joey to his knees and made him cover his eyes. "Wha---? What the--?" The light grew brighter and brighter as the dark figure struggled forward. "No!" Joey cried. "Don't! You can't get hurt on account of me! Whoever you are, get away while you can!" 

But still the light surged on fighting against the dark figure. Bringing the dark figure into the light and letting Joey see who it reall was. Not that he didn't already know. But...

The light stripped away the darkness shrouding his father and revealed him for what he really was. A feeble old drunk who could barely walk and relied on violence to get him through the world. 

Slowly his father shriveled until he was no more then a puddle of darkness surrounded entirely by a pool of light. 

"Who are you?" Joey asked, raising unsteadily to his feet. "Why did you save me?"

"Because Joey," the light smiled, somehow it smiled, as it recited so familiar words. "That's what you do. Even if they don't like you but you see something in them, you try to get them back. It's just what you do."

"Who are you?" Joey whispered. 

The light faded gently to reveal a pair of sapphire eyes and a straightly set mouth. 

"Seto?"

"...sobbing last time I saw her. Absolutely sobbing..." the boy was staring into space as if he couldn't even see Joey. "...and Yugi. If you don't wake up blondie, he'll never forgive himself..."

"Seto?" Joey asked again walking towards the brown haired boy. "What's going on?"

He didn't respond. "Man if I ever get my hands on that so called father of yours I swear....I'm kind of sorry about all the times I was rough on you...calling you a Chihuahua and all but..." He paused and turned to stare directly into Joey's eyes. "There's a reason."

***

He laughed softly. "You remind me so much of myself that it scares me. When I was thirteen and living in the orphanage, I was happy and go-lucky. Kind of like you, Joey. And I was always smiling. But I learned the hard way that life sucks. Through Gozaburo and his 'training'...I saw you that day in the Game Shop and you reminded me of myself the day that I bought my first pack of Duel Monster's cards. And I didn't want you to have to learn the hard way that life sucks. I didn't want you---" he stopped and looked around. "No...No that's wrong. I did want you to learn that life sucks. Because it does. But I wanted it to be from someone that you hated--me--instead of someone like you father that you might have to love or something...."

Seto sighed and stared at Joey's limp hands. "I guess I really did a good job of toughening you up because in the end you hated me more then I could have imagined. But I guess I failed as well. I'm sorry Joey; I didn't toughen you up enough. Your father still got to you, still hurt you."

He chuckled. "Bet you that you never thought that you'd hear me say these words, but here it goes Joey Wheeler: I was protecting you. In all my teasing and nicknames and punches I was really protecting you from the real world." He laughed again. "Wow, I never thought I'd be able to say that to you."

Seto smiled down on the boy's angelic face and without really realizing what he was doing, leaned down and kissed the blonde's forehead. "Wake up soon," he whispered, standing. 

As he turned to leave, a voice stopped him and his eyes widened in surprise. 

"Wait Seto. Don't leave."

***

He peered into the living room to see his darker half sprawled on the couch. They'd been home for almost four hours and Bakura hadn't moved once. Not even when Ryou had put a steaming plate of chiken and mashed potatoes, one of Bakura's favorite meals, on the coffee table in front of him.

He sighed and hurried up to his room. He knew what he had to do. He placed his hand on the phone. Bakura would hate him forever. Gripping the phone tightly in one hand, he punched in the number he wanted and placed it near his ear.

"Hello...is Ishizu there?"

***

Hey guys! I am soo soooo sooo incredibly sorry about the wait but we just got a new comp and everything and its been really confusing. But thanks for hanging true! Next one will definitely be quicker I promise!


	18. Beginnings

"He's done this before," she said as she peered in on the white haired spirit. He lay limp on the couch. "He'll eventually get over it."

"But what if he doesn't?" Ryou whispered. "What if he's like that forever? What if he dies? What if—"

"Don't worry Ryou. Just wait. Be patient."

"Why was he like this before?" Ishizu looked at him oddly. "You said that he had done this before," the boy explained. "Why?"

Ishizu turned her eyes away from the spirit and down to the ground. "His father died. But not only did he die, but he died by Bakura's own hand. My little brother was possessed by Marik and he used the Millennium Rod to control Bakura. He made Bakura kill his own father."

"But why?" Ryou whispered, horrified. 

"Bakura's father was a royal guard for Yami, the Pharaoh. A very important guard at that. You see Marik wanted to attack the Pharaoh in his palace. He could beat all of the guards except for Bakura's father. He was the one guard that stood in Marik's way. So Marik became friends with Bakura knowing that he was the only person who could get close to his father. And well…Marik used the Rod on Bakura and made him kill his father…" Ishizu closed her eyes painfully. "I remember the night so well…I was sitting on the roof of my home, where Bakura and I would always meet. When he found me he was sobbing and screaming. It took me a while to realize that Marik had taken over my baby brother's body and forced Bakura to kill the one person that he loved more then me. I remember the house…the floor was slick with blood and…and—"

"Oh Ra…" Ryou whispered, absolutely horrified. "But there's something else I don't understand Ishizu."

"Yes?"

"How do you and my yami know each other? And how did you fall in love?"

Ishizu smiled sadly and stared off into space. "We ran into each other in the market place. Literally ran into each other that is. This was before Bakura had started to rob and the such. I was running from my father and Bakura was running from an angry man who thought 'Kura had stolen something." Ryou smiled slightly at Ishizu's nickname for his yami. "We helped each other out of our dilemmas and just started talking. You would say that we hit it off. Every night we would meet on the top of my roof, or sometimes his. We would talk and star gaze and—" she blushed slightly and decided that it was time to stop talking. 

"Then…why does he hate you Ishizu?" innocent little Ryou asked.

"Because I chose my brother over him," she replied softly. "Because when times got tough I decided that my brother was more important to me then the man I'd fallen in love with. Because I told him that we could never see each other again because of my brother. I told him that he was in too much danger being close to me. But he didn't listen. He wouldn't leave my side. So I told him that I hated him and that I never really loved him. I told him that he was always just a part of Marik's plan."

"Was it—"

"No," she whispered. "It was never true. I loved him more then anything in the world. I would give anything to have him back in my arms again…but it will never happen. He hates me too much. Anyway," she shook her head to clear the thoughts and began her story again. "Marik took over Bakura's body one last time to dispose of me. I was thwarting his plans of world ruler and being generally annoying to him. So he made Bakura kill me. He knew what kind of mental damage that would do to us both…" she sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. "So that's the story, Ryou. That's our story."

Ryou sat at the kitchen table, still trying to digest all of the information that had just been given to him. Ishizu placed her back at the wall and stared up at the ceiling which was dotted with orange thanks to a certain white haired spirit. 

A pale face that had not felt tears on it in over five millennia became wet as the ancient tears splashed down its face. 

***

"Joey?" Seto whispered. He turned back towards the blonde boy in amazement.

"You did it Seto," Joey whispered. "You saved me."

"What do you mean?" he asked, still slightly shocked at the sight of the blonde teenager before him.

"You fought for me…" Joey whispered. "He was about to kill me and you came out from the darkness and you saved me. You were surrounded by light…And then I heard you talking, Seto. I heard you talking about why you made fun of me. About why…that you were protecting me and…"

"You heard me?" the brown haired boy asked, amazed. Could it be? Could he have actually heard his words?

"Every word," Joey whispered. "And I felt your kiss on my forehead…it was that that brought me back Seto Kaiba. And…" he stared up at the teenager who had once been his enemy. "And I just wanted to say 'thank you'. So…thank you Seto. For saving me."

In a moment the taller boy had crossed the room and was leaning down beside the blonde's bed. "It wasn't me that saved you," he whispered. "You are like a savior to me, Joey Wheeler. Without you…" Suddenly seized by a daring that he did not know that he possessed he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against the shorter boy's. He pulled away after a moment, a faint blush tinting his cheeks. "So thank _you, _Joey."

He moved to stand but was stopped by Joey's bandaged hand. "Don't leave," he whispered. "Please Seto don't leave me alone. I never want to be alone again. I can't be alone. I'm…I'm scared Seto…Stay with me." He stared urgently up into Seto's eyes. "Please."

"Okay," he said and lay down on the edge of the bed, tired from the waiting and comforted some how by the blonde boy's presence so close and so near to him.

And that was how the nurse found them, three hours later, when she came to give Joey his medication.

***

Maybe he had been too hard on her. Maybe he had overreacted. Now, in hearing her side of the story it sort of made sense. 

But it wasn't like he could just make the hatred that he felt for her disappear.  It just wasn't that simple. 

He stood slowly, very aware of the gentle snores coming from the kitchen. A vague smile swept across his handsome face as he realized just how much noise his hikari made when he was sleeping.

He crept over to the door, his white hair blinding him momentarily. But, without a fault, he made it to the door and opened it carefully. A sigh escaped from his thin lips as the cold wind swept across his face. He closed his eyes and arched his back slightly backwards.

He couldn't just leave the hatred….

Or could he?

***

A faint smile appeared on the thin lips of a tall brunette boy as he was escorted back into the waiting room. The reason for Seto Kaiba's small smile was Joey's friends. 

Yugi was curled up in a tight ball on a chair as close to the entry way to the ICU as possible and he was wearing the moon and star pajamas that his grandfather had brought him. Tea was sleeping in the chair next to Yugi, her head on one arm rest and her legs hanging over the other. Mr. Moto was lying on a comfy blue couch, his chest rising and falling steadily, soft snores emanating from him. Tristan was asleep although he was sitting up, his body leaning against the arm rest of the polka dotted couch while in his lap, the small form of Serenity Wheeler had finally fallen asleep, her eyes still bright red with tears.  

Seto moved carefully across the room towards the girl and leaned down to her level.

"Serenity?" he whispered. Her eyes snapped open and something like fear spread through those great orbs of grey light. She knew this boy. She knew of what he did to her brother. Of how much he teased him and how much he hurt him.

"What do you want Seto Kaiba?" she asked spitefully. "Have you come to—"

"Serenity," he said. "Your brother's awake. He's going to be fine."

She sat up quickly, startling Tristan awake. "He is?" she whispered. He nodded.

The tears flooded once again down her soft face, but this time there was no trace of sadness or despair in her eyes. They were sparkling bright with happiness and joy and even as the tears were splashing down her face, she was laughing.

Tristan watched her as she laughed, a smile playing on her features.

She was beautiful when she laughed.

"What's all the commotion?" Mr. Moto asked, awakening to the bell like sound of Serenity's laughter. "What's going on?"

Across the room, Yugi and Tea had awakened and were watching Seto as he stood. 

"He's going to be alright!" Serenity cried, startling Seto by pulling the tall boy into a hug. He had never been hugged like this before. "My brother is going to be alright!"

***

"Sir—"

"Get out of my way."

"Sir, the museum is closed."

"I just need to speak with Miss Ishtar. Then I'll be gone."

"Sir!"

But he was already gone, running down the hallway at full speed. He knew where he'd find her. She had to be there. She just _had to._

***

He awoke with a start, realizing that he was sleeping in the kitchen, slumped over the table. The kitchen….of all places, why in the name of Ra was he sleeping in the—

Oh yeah. Bakura. 

Quickly Ryou stood and moved as fast as he could into the living room to see if anything had changed with his yami.

Sure enough, the couch was empty. He was gone.

The hikari's first instinct was to panic until he realized who he was panicking about. Bakura. Bakura could take care of himself. Unless there was a car involved….Bakura didn't understand cars….nor did he like them….

Ryou winced as the memory of Bakura hurling stones at the neighbor's car flashed through his mind. He shivered. 

Bakura would be—

Riiiiing! Riiing!

As he hurtled towards the phone his first thought was that Bakura had been arrested for hurling stones at a car or for blowing something up….again.

"I swear whatever he's done—"

"Ryou?"

"Yugi?"

"Are you okay?"

"You're not the police!"

"Um…."

Ryou shook his head. "Never mind how's Joey?"

"Good!" The smaller boy cried. "Ryou, he's awake! He's going to be okay!"

A smile, the first one in hours spread across Ryou's pale face. "That's brilliant! Yugi, that's absolutely wonderful!"

"I know! Can you come down? Or is Bakura---"

"No…no Bakura's gotten through the phase of hurling jam at the ceiling."

"That's good," Yugi sighed. "So can you come down?"

Ryou bit his lip and looked around. Bakura would be fine…he was a grown spirit….he could take care of himself. "Yeah. Yeah I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

***

She spun around as the sound of footsteps accosted her ears. "Hey," she called at the approaching figure. "You're not supposed to be in here. The guard shouldn't have let—"

Her words where cut off as the figure stepped out of the darkness, leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

"Bakura?" Ishizu Ishtar whispered, amazement seeping into her voice. "Bakura, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Ishizu. I'm sorry that I let Marik get to me. I'm sorry that I got so angry. I'm sorry that I was such an ass and I'm sorry for never forgiving you for doing what you had to do. But I'm not sorry, nor will I ever be for the day that I ran into you in the market place. I will never be sorry for falling in love with you and I will never be sorry for the time that I kissed you on top of the roof, even though you told me not to."

Ishizu had begun to smile when he had begun his rant and by the end of it she was positively beaming.

"I understand if you never want to see me again and I even understand if you slap me once or twice. I think I might deserve it. But just…just think about it okay?"

His eyes widened with surprise as she leaned up to him and kissed him. "Are you finished?" she asked softly, staring into his brown eyes.

He nodded. "Yeah that's about it."

"Good." She kissed him again, this time curling her hands around his head and running her hands through his white hair. "I'm sorry for lying to you, 'Kura and I'm sorry for hurting you. But I'm not sorry for running into you in the market place and I'm not sorry falling in love with you and I will never be sorry for staying in love with you even for all of these years."

Bakura smiled broadly, for the first time in centuries and leaned his head down to Ishizu's and kissed her, the smile never leaving his face.

***

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I think that this is the last chapter, but an epilogue should be coming sometime in the near future. Thanks for reading, everyone and thanks for being patient. A special thanks to Kitara for inspiring me to finish with her wonderful Seto artwork. 


End file.
